Brown visits UK troops in Helmand

by Dave Keating | August 21, 2008 at 03:11 am

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Gordon Brown has made a surprise visit to Afghanistan today. The timing is significant, coming right after ten French troops were killed in that conflict in a surprise attack. The public in both France and Britain has grown skeptical and unhappy about their country's involvement in Afghanistan.

Gordon Brown is in Afghanistan on a surprise visit to British troops, en route to the Olympics in Beijing.

The PM told troops at Camp Bastion, the main British base in Helmand, that they were "the heroes of our country".

He told members of 16 Air Assault Brigade they were in the "front line in the fight against the Taleban".

He also paid tribute to Cpl Barry Dempsey, the latest British soldier to die, before holding talks in Kabul with Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

Mr Brown spent 90 minutes at Camp Bastion and visited a field hospital where he spoke to six injured soldiers.