Brown faces crisis as defence aide quits over Afghan war strategy India News and Travel Times Provides India-centric and other News and Features

Gordon Brown is faced with another crisis after an aide to Defence Secretary Bob Anisworth, Eric Joyce, resigned over his handling of the war in Afghanistan. The timing of Joyce's resignation has reportedly infuriated Downing Street, as it came on the eve of Brown's speech on Afghanistan. Brown is set to deliver a major speech on Friday that will re-state Britain's mission in Afghanistan, The Telegraph reports. But Joyce, a former army major, has already warned Brown that the public is growing increasingly weary of his claim that the war in Afghanistan is being fought to protect Britons from terrorism at home. "I do not think the public will accept for much longer that our losses can be justified by simply referring to the risk of greater terrorism on our streets. Nor do I think we can continue with the present level of uncertainty about the future of our deployment in Afghanistan," The Telegraph quoted Joyce as saying. In his long resignation letter that was handed to Number 10 last night, Joyce asked Brown to start thinking about an Afghanistan exit strategy. "We also need to make it clear that our commitment in Afghanistan is high but time limited. It should be possible now to say that we will move off our present war-footing and reduce our forces there substantially during our next term in government," he said. He also attacked the Labour party, saying it would lose the election if it did not look as if the party cared about defence and got a "grip" on the issue. "We must make it clear to every serviceman and woman, their families and the British public, that we give their well-being the highest political priority. Labour must remember that service folk and their families are our people and we must at literally all costs continue to show by our actions that we mean it," he said. However, Ainsworth said the picture painted by Joyce was not one he "recognised." "Eric Joyce is, of course, entitled to his opinion and whilst we thank him for his service as a junior parliamentary aide, it is vital that we have a leadership team that is fully committed to our mission in Afghanistan," Anisworth said.