LONDON, Oct 25 (AFP) - Prime Minister Tony Blair said Monday that the redeployment of 850 crack British troops to a volatile area near Baghdad was "a limited operation for a limited period".
"The key issue is the Iraq elections in January," Blair, speaking about the deployment for the first time, told journalists during his regular monthly press conference. "That is a very big moment for the Iraqi people."
British troops would not stay in the country a moment longer than was necessary but had a duty to the Iraqi people to prevent insurgents from disrupting or stopping the elections, he said.
"The biggest blow that has been dealt these terrorists in the last few months is the Afghan elections," Blair said.
"That was a country used as a training ground for terrorists, and now it will have a democratically-elected president and, later, a democratically-elected parliament.
"That is a huge blow (to the terrorists)," he said. "Same with Iraq."
Incumbent leader Hamid Karzai is set to become Afghanistan's first elected president after winning historic October 9 polls, according to preliminary results published by the election commission.
Britain announced last Thursday it had agreed to a controversial US request to move the troops from the southern city of Basra closer to Baghdad as US troops focus on wresting the restive hub of Fallujah from rebel control.
The redeployment marks the first time since the March 2003 invasion of Iraq that British troops have left southern Iraq for US-controlled areas, where they are considered more likely to come under hostile fire.
It came amid a storm of speculation about whether it was a purely military move or a political decision aimed at giving Blair's war ally US President George W. Bush a timely boost for his re-election campaign.
10/25/2004 13:49 GMT - AFP