David Cameron Meets Afghan President in Unannounced Trip

LONDON - As Britain joins the United States and other allies in combating the Sunni militants of the Islamic State, Prime Minister David Cameron flew to Afghanistan for a previously unannounced visit on Friday to honor British soldiers who fought and died there in earlier efforts to contain Islamic extremism.

British troops are to complete their withdrawal from Afghanistan at the end of the year after a campaign spanning more than a decade in which 453 British soldiers died in the war waged by a NATO coalition. The fighting has claimed 2,348 American lives, according to icasualties.org, a website that tracks casualties.

'They have paid a very high price for our engagement in Afghanistan; they have done vital work here,' Mr. Cameron said, referring to British troops in a war that, like the conflict in Iraq after the 2003 invasion, drew widespread opposition from Britons.

'We should remember those who paid the ultimate price,' Mr. Cameron said, 'and those who were injured through the work they did.'

Mr. Cameron, on his 13th visit to Afghanistan, is set to become the first world leader to meet President Ashraf Ghani, who took office on Monday after lengthy political wrangling following a contested election.

Mr. Cameron said that British troops had contributed to denying Al Qaeda a haven while preparing Afghan Army and police forces to look after the country's security.

'I think we have gone a long way to achieving that,' he said. 'I think that is a very real achievement.'

'This is where 9/11 and countless other plots were hatched,' he said speaking of the days before 2001 when Osama bin Laden operated from sanctuaries in Afghanistan, then under the control of the Taliban.

'The core U.K. mission was about our own domestic security,' Mr. Cameron said, according to a transcript of his remarks. 'That required an Afghan Army and police capable of taking care of their own security and denying Al Qaeda a safe haven.'

He was speaking as British leaders promised a new crackdown at home on Islamic militants, and as a handful of British Royal Air Force jets were again flying combat missions alongside the United States in the skies over Iraq.

Mr. Cameron has not joined the United States, however, in attacking targets of the Islamic State in Syria.

'We are fighting a generational struggle against Islamist extremist terrorists,' Mr. Cameron said. 'This is a battle we are going to be engaged in for many, many years.'

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