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		</div><p><a href="http://londonglossy.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/karzai-criticised-uk-armed-forces.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-full" title="Afghan President Hamid Karzai criticised UK military operations in the country, leaked documents showed" src="http://londonglossy.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/min-karzai-criticised-uk-armed-forces.jpg" alt="Afghan President Hamid Karzai criticised UK military operations in the country, leaked documents showed"/></a></p>
<p>Britain&#8217;s military operations in Afghanistan have been harshly criticised by the country&#8217;s president Hamid Karzai, local officials and the American commander of Nato troops, according to leaked diplomatic papers.</p>
<p>The secret US embassy cables, obtained by whistle-blowing website WikiLeaks, report conversations in which Mr Karzai said that Britain was &#8220;not up to the task&#8221; of securing the southern province of Helmand and suggested the job would be better given to the US.</p>
<p>US general Dan McNeill, who led Nato forces in Afghanistan in 2007/08, is said to have been &#8220;dismayed&#8221; by a British effort which &#8220;made a mess of things&#8221; in Helmand and Helmand governor Gulab Mangal is said to have criticised British troops for failing to get out of their bases and engage with local people.</p>
<p>The cables are the latest from a cache of 250,000 secret documents obtained by WikiLeaks, whose founder Julian Assange on Thursday lost a legal bid to overturn a Swedish court order demanding his arrest for questioning over allegations of rape and sexual assault. The 39-year-old Australian is believed to be in hiding in England as the latest publications on his whistle-blowing website fuel global uproar.</p>
<p>Thursday&#8217;s revelations sparked indignation among some of those linked to the UK deployment in Helmand, which has swelled to 10,000 troops since it began in 2006.</p>
<p>Anthony Philipson, whose son James was one of the first British troops to die in the province, told the BBC: &#8220;We have done the best we could with some of the finest infantry in the world, we have taken terrible casualties. Yes, the place is still a hotbed of violence, but I think it always will be.&#8221;</p>
<p>According to the cables, President Karzai told US officials he was puzzled why security in Helmand had deteriorated after the arrival of British troops. In the aftermath of the 2001 ousting of the Taliban, he had been able to visit the region with just 14 US special forces, but with thousands of British troops on the ground the area was no longer safe, he said.</p>
<p>In 2007 Gen McNeill was said to be &#8220;particularly dismayed by the British effort&#8221;. He is reported to have said that &#8220;they had made a mess of things in Helmand, their tactics were wrong&#8221;.</p>
<p>Mr Mangal is said to have criticised British operations around the town of Sangin, where more UK troops have died than in any other part of Afghanistan. He told a team led by US Vice-President Joe Biden in January 2009 that American forces were needed as British security in Sangin was inadequate. British troops &#8220;must leave their bases and engage with the people&#8221;, he is reported to have said.</p>
<p>A Ministry of Defence spokesman said: &#8220;UK forces did an excellent job in Sangin, an area which has always been and continues to be uniquely challenging, delivering progress by increasing security and taking the fight to the insurgency. That work is now being continued by the US Marines as part of a hugely increased Isaf presence across the whole of Helmand Province.&#8221;</p>
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