UK To Afghanistan: It's Your Country, You Deal With It

David Cameron has told Hamid Karzai that they need to start worrying about their own security, for a change...

Britain is putting pressure on Afghanistan to assume full responsibility for its own security as soon as possible, officials said yesterday, as the US took over command of Helmand province.

Air Chief Marshal Sir Jock Stirrup, chief of the defence staff, joined Liam Fox, the defence secretary, at the prime minister's official residence, Chequers, for what officials described as a special summit of the National Security Council.

"There were wide-ranging, intensive and productive discussions during the extended session on this, the government's top foreign policy priority," Downing Street said in a statement.

After the meeting, the prime minister, David Cameron, spoke to Hamid Karzai, the Afghan president, on the telephone. Karzai told him the peace jirga would be attended by participants "representative of the whole country", Downing Street added.

By: Brant