A former head of the British army has called for the UK and the US to act "as quickly as we can" to transfer the main security role to Afghan forces and leave the country.

Speaking as the new Foreign Secretary William Hague arrives in Washington for talks with his US counterpart Hillaary Clinton, Sir Richard Dannatt said that British forces should not remain in the Afghanistan "a moment longer than we have to be there".

And he told told Today presenter John Humphrys that cuts in defence expenditure would have to be made, adding that "we've got too many tanks, too much heavy artillery, too many fast jets".

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