PM condemns killing of three British soldiers
Prime Minister David Cameron has condemned the "appalling" killing of three British troops in Afghanistan by a rogue Afghan soldier
Mr Cameron paid tribute to the “brave Gurkha soldiers” who lost their lives and said “our hearts go out to them and their families”.
The PM stressed that the 120,000 strong Afghan National Army was doing a very effective job working in partnership with the British army and other Nato partners and the incident should not change the strategy of working alongside the Afghanistan army.
He said:
This is not typical of the Afghan Army, this is a rogue element and the insurgents want us to change our approach. They want us to abandon our strategy. They want us to lose faith in the Afghan National Army. That would not be the right approach. It is a dreadful incident. We need to get to the bottom of what happened. We need a proper investigation. I discussed that with President Karzai this morning.
The right thing for us to do is to keep with our strategy of working with and building up the Afghan National Army because in the end it’s when the Afghans can take care of their own security, can keep Al Qaeda out of their country, can make sure there’s a basic level of security and stability. It’s when that happens we will be able to bring our troops home.
Speaking earlier today, Defence Secretary Dr Liam Fox also condemned the “despicable and cowardly act” and said British and ISAF forces with continue to work with Afghans undeterred.