Cameron in Afghanistan to hold talks with Karzai

KABUL - British Prime Minister David Cameron was in Afghanistan Tuesday to hold talks with President Hamid Karzai, a presidential spokesman said.

“Cameron is scheduled to meet with President Karzai this afternoon, and then both leaders will hold a joint press conference,” Siamak Herawi, the deputy presidential spokesman, said.

The premier arrived in the southern province of Helmand Monday, where he visited his country’s troops and assessed for himself the situation on the ground, the BBC reported.

There are about 10,000 British troops deployed to Afghanistan with the bulk of them stationed in Helmand.

The BBC quoted Cameron as saying that the British troops could start returning home as soon as next year.

The British leader said progress against Taliban militants and in training Afghan security forces made him optimistic about the prospects for a British troop withdrawal.

Cameron came a day after a British soldier was killed during an operation in Helmand’s Nad Ali district. NATO said Monday that it was investigating whether the soldier died in a friendly fire incident or as a result of Taliban fire.