ARMY CHIEFS are drawing up plans to withdraw British troops from outlying bases in Afghanistan.

In what would be a significant change of strategy against the growing Taliban insurgency, they are considering abandoning several bases including Musa Qala, the scene of bloody battles that claimed 15 British lives. Army forces would attempt to hold only the larger towns in Helmand province.

It is understood the new “retrenchment” strategy is backed by the head of the army, General Sir David Richards.

Gordon Brown has yet to take a final decision, however. Ministers are concerned the new strategy would be branded defeatist.

Quitting Musa Qala risks provoking a backlash from the families of soldiers who died there. The town was captured in 2007 by the Taliban after British troops withdrew and retaken by Nato forces in a costly operation later that year.

A senior British commander said: “The new strategy will have to be handled sensitively. But we can’t do everything, everywhere. We must concentrate our efforts in a few geographical areas. We have to select specific areas to hold and then do the job properly.”

The retrenchment plan comes after a week when the former Middle East minister Kim Howells sparked a political debate by demanding the total withdrawal of British troops from Afghanistan.

In other developments last night:

oIt emerged that the Afghan policeman who shot dead five British soldiers last week may have been driven by a grudge against a senior Afghan officer, a man he accused of repeatedly beating and raping him;

oA new ComRes poll for the BBC indicated that 64% of the public feel that the war is “unwinnable”, up from 58% in July;

oTwo separate “friendly fire” incidents claimed the lives of seven US troops and eight Afghan soldiers.

In an interview with The Sunday Times, Bob Ainsworth, the defence secretary, confirmed that British efforts would in future focus on the large towns in central Helmand that are home to most of the province’s 1m population.

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