"Afghanistan is STILL a breeding ground for terror plots against Britain" -Cameron admits on surprise visit to Kabul

The fight against Islamist terror is this generation’s Second World War, David Cameron said today on a surprise visit to Afghanistan.

In a speech to British troops at Camp Bastion in Helmand, the Prime Minister said the Army should be ‘incredibly proud’ of what it had achieved.

But he said that the atrocities committed by groups like Islamic State in Iraq and Syria showed that there was still a long battle ahead. 

Mr Cameron said: ‘If our great grandfathers were fighting against Prussian domination of Europe; if our grand fathers were fighting fascism; if our fathers were fighting the cold war against communism; I'm afraid to say, this struggle, against Islamist extremist terrorism, this is the struggle of our generation.

'It is about protecting ourselves in our streets, in our homes, in our towns.’ 

He added: ‘These people have declared war upon us and we must make sure, as Britain always does in our history, that we respond with robustness and resolution.’

The Prime Minister’s remarks came after he revealed almost half of all terrorist plots against Britain are still hatched in Afghanistan and Pakistan 13 years after British troops were sent to the country to destroy Al Qaeda. 

The Prime Minister, in Kabul on an unannounced visit to meet with the country’s new unity government, said Britain had ‘paid a very high price’ for liberating Afghanistan from the Taliban - with 453 British soldiers losing their lives.

Mr Cameron claimed Britain and other allies had forced Al Qaeda out the region and the number of plots originating in the region had fallen. But he admitted the Afghanistan-Pakistan frontier was still a hotbed of terrorism.

He said: ‘When I became Prime Minister I think something like nine out ten plots we faced on the streets of Britain came from the Afghanistan-Pakistan area. That is now well down - somewhere below half, from the latest figures I saw.’

Mr Cameron flew from Kabul to Camp Bastion in Helmand to meet British troops before it finally closes down in a few weeks' time in line with his commitment to end British combat operations in Afghanistan by the end of this year.

Currently there are just around 1,300 British troops still present compared to the 9,500 deployed in Helmand at the height of the 13-year military engagement in the country.