British troops in Afghanistan have paid a “high price” but their efforts have been a success, Prime Minister David Cameron has said on a pre-Christmas visit to UK bases in the country.
There have been more than 400 deaths since 2001 but the UK presence has cut the number of terrorist plots, he said.
The prime minister played table football and attended a carol service with soldiers in Helmand province.
Troop numbers will nearly halve to 5,200 in 2013, he announced this week.
At Prime Ministers Questions on Wednesday, Mr Cameron said that almost half of the current force serving in Helmand province are to be withdrawn from Afghanistan next year.
Troop numbers are already being reduced from 9,500 to 9,000 before Christmas. And numbers would fall to about 5,200 by the end of 2013, he said.
A small number of British troops would remain in the country beyond that, working at an officer training academy and “involved in returning equipment and dealing with logistics”, Mr Cameron added.
All Nato operations are due to finish by the end of 2014, with responsibility being transferred to Afghan forces.
Afghan campaign a success - PM http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/64887000/jpg/_64887227_ka8koenh.jpg
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