Brown fends off a sense of Afghan mission creep

Am at Guildhall where the white-tied and be-gowned have just said grace and sat down for their tuck.

Gordon Brown’s team feel he must get across to ordinary folk a sense that the Afghanistan military mission does not just grind on forever but is governed by a plan and has an ending.

David Miliband will speak more about the political plan tomorrow. Bob Ainsworth will address Nato allies soon. The prime minister wants people to understand the purpose and sense the progress.

So he’ll talk about the blows inflicted on al-Qaida and the prospect of a “timetable for transfer starting in 2010”. That means transfer to Afghan lead in districts – it doesn’t mean withdrawal from districts. There would still be substantial military and civilian presence.

The timetable he hopes can be unveiled in January 2010 would not be a linear progression to a final withdrawal date but would give some indicative dates for the first few districts to transfer, starting mid-2010.

Before that we get the formal announcement of the additional 500 UK forces being deployed. That could come closely timed to President Obama’s extra troops announcement, and that now looks likely between his return from Asia and the Thanksgiving holiday.