Gen. David Petraeus tells British military leaders that Afghan mission will fail without UK

Petraeus: Afghan mission will fail without UK help

LONDON — Gen. David Petraeus is warning that the allied effort to pacify Afghanistan will fail without British involvement.

The head of the U.S. Central Command told an audience of British military leaders gathered in London that “the coalition cannot succeed without you.”

Britain currently has some 10,000 soldiers in the NATO-led mission fighting Taliban rebels in Afghanistan, the second-largest foreign contingent after the United States.

But Britain also faces a yawning budgetary deficit which the country’s newly elected leaders have pledged to address.

Petraeus acknowledged Wednesday that Britain was facing “tough choices” about where to deploy its resources but said that the U.S. and Britain faced many of the same threats in the region.