"Afghanistan security safeguards Spain," says Alfredo Rubalcaba

Just 42 days after Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodríguez Zapatero made a lightning visit to Spanish troops in Afghanistan, the government's number two, Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba, toured the Spanish bases of Herat and Qala-i-Naw with the purpose of bolstering support for Spain's military contingent and swaying public opinion to the necessity of a continuing presence in the war-torn country. It is not an easy undertaking for the deputy prime minister, with consensus among Spain's population having swung against a conflict that claimed the lives of two soldiers, two Civil Guards and their translator, a Spanish-Iranian, this year.

"It is the most difficult mission, and the most important, and that is why I am here," Rubalcaba told troops at the Qala-i-Naw base on Sunday. "We cannot allow Afghanistan to export hatred and terror. We all depend on each other. Guaranteeing security here means guaranteeing security in the world, and in Spain. You are far from home, but in Spain we feel you are working for us and not just for Afghans."

On the first visit to Afghanistan by a Spanish deputy prime minister, Rubalcaba was accompanied by the secretary of state for defense, Antonio Camacho, and the director general of the Spanish police and Civil Guard, Francisco Javier Velázquez.

The minister did not give any new details on the planned handover of security control for the provinces of Badghis and Herat to Afghan forces, ratified at the NATO summit in Lisbon in November and scheduled to take place in 2011 and 2012 respectively, but did reiterate Zapatero's message on the Spanish mission: "We did not come to stay."