IISS’ plan for Britain to leave Afghanistan

The UK government military advisors have published a blueprint for pulling British troops out of Afghanistan.

In its four point plan, the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) suggested that Britain should commit itself to a more low key policy of “containment and deterrence” in Afghanistan, the daily Standard reported on Wednesday.

John Chipman, the IISS director, said NATO forces had already achieved the main point for being in Afghanistan which was to stop the country from being a base for Osama bin Laden and al -Qaeda.

The plan also envisages that, Afghanistan “would become a loosely federated state in which power would go to the provinces and regions”, who would rule almost independently.

The British Cabinet insiders confirmed that government defense chiefs have been mulling over the IISS plan as they are increasingly annoyed with reports of corruption among Afghan government officials.

However, the possibility of a swift change of course in the war-torn country in being ruled out.

Some military chiefs have suggested that David Cameron could seek to bring forward the withdrawal of British combat troops from 2015 to 2012, and that he wants a major cut in UK forces by next year. But a Whitehall source cast doubt on the feasibility of even the 2015 deadline.

The institute plan raises prospects of a partitioned Afghanistan, which could become one of the world’s biggest drug states.