British Army to hold talk on future efforts

A seminar by the British Army's Chief of the General Staff, General Sir Peter Wall, called The British Army:Beyond Afghanistan is to be conducted in London to shed light on the Army's future plans in a world that is slowly moving on from 9/11 and its immediate aftermath.  For the past decade, the British Army has been continually engaged in overseas operations, including in the Balkans, Iraq, Afghanistan and in NATO’s Libya campaign. In Iraq and Afghanistan British soldiers have experienced land combat as intense as that during the Korean War. With NATO’s plans for transition to Afghan security leadership by 2015 under way, "the British Army now has to learn the lessons from this decade of operational commitment and restructure to meet the requirements of the UK’s recent Strategic Defence and Security Review," said the military in a statement The lecture will discuss the challenges of completing the Army's job in Afghanistan and transitioning from a campaigning Army to a contingency force, capable of providing politicians with relevant choices for tackling the strategic challenges of the future. General Sir Peter Wall has been Chief of the General Staff,the professional head of the British Army, since September 2010. His previous roles include command in the Balkans and Iraq, strategic planning for UK joint operations and Commander in Chief Land Forces. The meeting will be chaired by Alex Nicoll,IISS Director of Editorial. It will take place on tuesday, January 31 in the Lee Kuan Yew Conference Room at Arundel House in London.