A freak dust storm ruined David Cameron’s Christmas photo-op with British troops in Afghanistan on Tuesday, but that is not the photograph he has his eye on.
It must have been a regret that cameras did not capture him disembarking at Camp Bastion, alongside the helicopter that made the trip on the military cargo plane with him. It would have made the perfectly pitched Christmas present for the troops.
If one item came to symbolise dissatisfaction with the way armed forces were treated under the previous government, it was the helicopter, or rather the perceived lack of them, in Afghanistan.
The coalition’s austerity drive has necessitated a series of cut backs at the Ministry of Defence, and the visuals as well as the words of this trip were designed to tackle any perception that Cameron’s government is also not providing those on the front line with what they need.
Cameron was keen to press on the reporters who accompanied him the good that the coalition, as well as he personally, had done for the armed forces; including exempting them from paying increased pension contributions and funnelling extra money towards military families through tax breaks and special programmes.
These “thanks and rewards” for the troops were not being given to offset potential more sapping cutbacks at the MoD a spokesperson insisted.
While the weather scuppered Downing Street’s best-laid PR plans, Cameron did still get to meet a number of British armed forces personnel, as well as some American soldiers who hitched a lift on the plane back home.
Cameron’s visit was also billed as a chance for him to catch up on how the process of transitioning security from Western to Afghan forces was progressing.
“The British public deserve to know there is an end point and that end point is the end of 2014,” he said on Tuesday in Kandahar.
And he went further than previous statements on the withdrawal timetable when he told reporters he did not want to see numbers fall off a “cliff edge” suddenly at the end of 2014 – suggesting he has his eye on pulling the majority out perhaps as early as the end of 2013.
The prime minister clearly hopes he will only have one or two more Christmas visits to make to the country.
It is apparent that the photograph Cameron is after the most is the one of RAF transport planes leaving Camp Bastion, taking the troops home with him for good.