Fox warns policy failures in Afghanistan must be "rectified"

Liam Fox has called for a more realistic strategy in Afghanistan and attacked the Government for not giving British troops the equipment they need.

The Shadow Defence Secretary first raised the issue of a lack of helicopters in Parliament in December 2005.

And he warned today that Labour’s decision to cut the helicopter budget by £1.4 billion is the “root of many of the problems” British troops are facing in Afghanistan:

“Our brave Armed Forces lack the equipment which give them adequate mobility and protection in an ever more dangerous environment. We hear again and again from commanders in the field that they need helicopters so that they have the agility and flexibility they need, but clearly Tony Blair’s promise that the Armed Forces could have whatever they needed has not been kept.”

Liam also called for a more realistic strategy in Afghanistan and stressed that policy mistakes must be “rectified”:

“We need to have a simpler view of what we're trying to achieve.”