BRITAIN's growing military mission in Afghanistan could help attract international terrorists to the country, government intelligence analysts have warned.
Assessment documents circulating in Whitehall security circles suggest Afghanistan could soon replace Iraq as the prime focus for radical Muslims wanting to pursue jihad against western interests.
The assessment came to light as ministers prepare to announce that more than 1,000 extra UK troops will be sent to fight the Taleban; there will soon be more British forces there than in Iraq.

Des Browne, the Defence Secretary, will today confirm to parliament that he is again reinforcing the British deployment in Afghanistan, sending a further 1,300 personnel, taking the total mission to more than 6,500.
The fresh troops are being deployed after warnings that Taleban militias are gearing up for a spring offensive against Afghanistan's western-backed government.
A leaked document entitled Extremist Threat Assessment suggested that, as a result of increased conflict between NATO troops and the Taleban, "Afghanistan may well become more attractive as a venue for foreigners wishing to fulfil jihad ambitions".

Before the fall of the Taleban regime in 2002, there were several cases of UK nationals working with radical Islamic groups inside Afghanistan. But since then, the country has been seen more as a training camp than a theatre of war for extremists.
US intelligence reports have suggested the "core" al-Qaeda leadership has rebuilt itself along the Afghan-Pakistan border, raising fears it could launch new operations in the region.

Both MI5 and MI6 routinely monitor UK citizens travelling to Pakistan, looking for those who travel on to Afghanistan. Dozens are understood to have attended extremist training camps along the Afghan-Pakistan border in recent years, but most then leave again, planning to mount operations in Europe or Iraq.
Now UK intelligence officers are looking for signs Britain's military role in Afghanistan is inspiring would-be terrorists to take up arms there.

"It could well be that the focus of attention starts to shift from Iraq to Afghanistan as the relative sizes of the deployments change," said one security source yesterday. "It is something that will be looked at carefully."
The leaked document is understood to reflect the conclusions of the Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre, the Whitehall body that assesses threats to British interests at home and abroad.

It echoes repeated warnings from senior figures, including Dame Eliza Manningham-Buller, the head of MI5, about the scale of the threat to Britain.
• A MUSLIM student has been awarded first class honours for research into the mindset of a terrorist.
Del Khan, 34, said he wanted to explore the subject because of his own religious beliefs and urged disaffected young Muslims to fight any "jihad" with words, not violence.

Mr Khan, from Tinsley, Sheffield, said:
"I am from the Muslim community and I wanted to explore this subject. Religion has only a superficial part to play within terrorism.
"Part of my research objective was to contribute to the fact that Islam, as a religion and as a way of life, has never and never will, endorse acts of violence that involve the loss of life 2of innocents.

"
Are these the same government intelligence analysts that came up with the 45 minute , Weapons of Mass Disfunction dossier?
Where do I apply for a job? See me, I've got a fickucking great imagination too!

! !!

!
I predict the Martians will side with Osama Bin Loony and start buying up large tranches of Edinburgh's Knightsbridge down by the River Almond to cash in on 25% annual capital appreciation.
Double yellow lines and a tram to the airport from Cramond, I say!

!!
In military terms, when the other side is setting the pace, it is always a worrying sign.

To say the least.
Britain is clearly not setting the pace, something which is underlined by our dependence on American air power in Afghanistan.
To make a difference, the Britain must seize the diplomatic as well as the military initiative.

With Labour in charge that can never happen.
If voters want to strike a blow against terror they must vote Labour out on May 3.
It would be an interesting study to compare the radicalism of disaffected young Muslims (predominately, but not only) today with the radicalism of those who joined the International Brigade in Spain and the members of the Angry Brigade (England), Baader-Meinhoff/Red Army Faction (Germany), and the Red Brigade (Italy).

What are British soldiers doing in afghanistan? Afghanis will fight hard to free their country from a foreign invader, the question has to be, in the absence of just cause - is the benefit of being their worth our soldiers lives?
J.

K the British trops are there at the invitation of the democratically elected govt of Afghanistan. Idiot. You might want the vile Taliban back in Kabul, but the Afghan people do not.

Seems a little suspect after the story on increasing troop strength. We should pull out of both Iraq and Afganistan. Armies are not designed to fight a guerilla war.

We can't win this way. Pull out it's time. Let them fight it out for themselves as they have been doing for the last 3000 years.

; however please don't give the example of the Russians not being able to defeat the Afgans as these were trained and supplied by the US. It would probably been very different if we had let them alone.
Sorry, but is it just me?

Why are we telling the opposition what we are doing? Prince Harry off to Iraq - More troops away to Afghanistan . Why don't we wait until they've been and done it?

We wouldn't have done very well if we'd issued a headline prior to the invasion Allies to carry out surprise invasion in Normandy !!!

!
Errr, wasn't it us that equipped the Afgan fighters to despose of the Russian invasion some years back, I seem to remember some of my unit being sent there to train these fighters (now called insurgents)
If the 'terrorists' want to attack Western interests in Afghanistan, as the latest Whitehall effluvium suggests, it is rather serendipitous that we are increasing our troop strength there. How remarkable that Whitehall and the 'terrorists' would be on the same page.

Now, if I were a terrorist bent on wanton destruction, and lots of it, Afghanistan and Iraq would be two of the last places on earth that I would attack...

.far too many hard cases there, any one of whom could send me to kingdom come..

.as an Arab, I would stand out like a pithy remark from Queen George.
If I were an Arab terrorist I would hit the McClown's down the street, or the bus full of fatties pestering the camels with clicking cameras flashing or I would lay some Islamic law on some of our precious pedophiles enjoying the delights of Bangkok (what a town.

..even sounds suggestive).

Why wear myself out, going to all of the expense of traveling to Afghanistan to make mischief when so many soft targets readily present themselves...

if I, or anyone else, really wanted to attack Western interests...

hating America 'for its freedom', etc..?

But, silly, silly me...

the genius of Whitehall and the al Qaeda terrorists are their predictability.