Newly appointed British Foreign Secretary William Hague wants to set a new tone in Britain’s relationship with Washington in the first foreign visit of his tenure.
Hague was due to reassure the Obama administration in a meeting with US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton yesterday that Britain’s new coalition government remains firmly committed to the war in Afghanistan, despite some unease expressed by the country’s new leaders.
Hague and new Prime Minister David Cameron are already trying to demonstrate to the British public their independence from Washington and are eager to distinguish themselves from former Prime Minister Tony Blair, who was ridiculed as “Bush’s poodle” after he joined the unpopular war in Iraq.
“David Cameron and I have always said we want a solid but not slavish relationship with the United States,” Hague said this week, adding that ties with Washington are of “huge importance.”
The discussions with Clinton and other administration officials is likely to focus on Afghanistan. Cameron had previously suggested he would withdraw British troops by 2015. Deputy leader Nick Clegg has described his party as a “critical supporter” of the mission.
Hague said on Wednesday that Britain’s force of about 10,000 troops, based mainly in Helmand province in southern Afghanistan, would stay until “their job is done.”
“We will take stock together, but we are not looking here at setting artificial deadlines, arbitrary deadlines, a date of withdrawal,” he told the BBC.
The new foreign secretary, however, suggested that Britain is eager to see more progress on training Afghan soldiers and police, in the hope that they will be able to take up security duties and allow British soldiers to leave.
“Of course we want to speed that up in any way that we can; that is why Britain is doing so much to help train the Afghan security forces themselves,” he said.
Cameron has previously offered only equivocal backing for Afghan President Hamid Karzai.
“I think at his best he can do good things, but we have to be very clear about the need to cut out corruption,” Cameron told The Economist in March.
There may also be a tough message for Clinton over Britain’s position on the contested Falkland Islands. Cameron has criticized the secretary of state’s recent attempts to facilitate talks between London and Buenos Aires over the issue.
The two countries have recently been engaged in a spat over the exploitation of vast energy reserves in the South Atlantic.
Clinton said the US was willing to act as a go-between for the two sides, a move that angered some in Britain.
“I think it was disappointing, frankly, but I’ve always said the special relationship should be a frank and a candid one,” Cameron said.
Argentina and Britain went to war in 1982 over the islands, which are called Las Malvinas by Argentina and claimed as its territory under British occupation. Britain has considered the islands sovereign territory since the early 1800s.
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