LONDON — President Bush hit pay dirt Monday in what has been widely billed as his farewell tour of Europe with pledges for new financial sanctions against Iran and a commitment for a net increase of 230 British troops in Afghanistan.
The deployment takes British troops to their highest levels in the South Asian nation, with 8,030 forces now committed in Kabul, Kandahar and Helmand.
The decision was not officially linked to the arrival of Bush, who held talks Monday with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and had breakfast with his predecessor, Tony Blair, a day after visiting Queen Elizabeth II at Windsor Castle.
But the announcement follows long- standing U.S. complaints that some European allies are not doing their share of the heavy lifting in the war against the Taliban.
“Eighteen months ago, the Taliban had boasted that they and their paid foreign fighters would drive our forces out of southern Helmand. Now most would agree that security is on the way to being transformed,” Brown said at a news conference with Bush. “Our aim is to generate progress, where the fourth-poorest country in the world, laid low by decades of conflict, can as a democracy enjoy peaceful economic and social development, with our forces over time moving from a direct combat role to train and support Afghanistan’s own army and police.”
The two leaders focused on Iran, which appears likely to reject a package of incentives presented by Western officials over the weekend.
Brown said European Union leaders are prepared to adopt further financial sanctions against Iran and said Britain would step in with a freeze on assets of the Islamic Republic’s largest bank, Bank Melli.
