Queen Elizabeth II led
a solemn annual ceremony to honor the country's war dead on Sunday, as her
grandson Prince William flew out to Afghanistan to meet with troops and attend
a memorial service there.
Thousands of veterans, officials and
onlookers gathered near central London's Cenotaph war memorial to mark
Remembrance Sunday, which is held every year on the nearest Sunday to the
anniversary of the end of World War I on Nov. 11, 1918. It now pays tribute to
the dead in all conflicts, including World War II, Iraq and Afghanistan.
Those attending observed a
traditional two-minute silence, broken by a single artillery blast and the
Royal Marines' rendering of "The Last Post" - a haunting tune that
traditionally signaled the end of a soldier's day.
The queen, dressed in a black coat
and hat, led a ceremony to lay wreaths at the foot of the war memorial. She was
followed by other royals dressed in military uniforms including Prince Philip
and Prince Charles.
Earlier Sunday, Prince William
joined British troops at a memorial service at Camp Bastion in southern
Afghanistan's Helmand province, where British forces have suffered heavy
losses.
The prince, who is second in line to
the throne and who trained as a Royal Air Forces helicopter rescue pilot,
mingled with frontline troops and visited the base's medical center with
Defense Secretary Liam Fox. Services were also held at all British bases in
Afghanistan.
The tributes came as Britain's armd
forces chief warned that Western allies can only contain and never defeat
al-Qaida and other militant Islamic groups.
"You have to ask: 'Do we need
to defeat it in the sense of a clear-cut victory,' and I would argue that it is
unnecessary and would never been achieved," Gen. David Richards was quoted
s saying in The Sunday Telegraph.
But he added: "But can we
contain it to the point that our lives and our children's lives are led
securely? I think we can."
Richards' comments reflect Britain's
waning commitment to fight a full-on war in Afghanistan - the government plans
to withdraw most of the UK.'s nearly 10,000 troops there from combat fighting
to a support role by 2015.
The NATO-led war has been deeply
unpopular in Britain, with more than 340 British personnel killed there since
operations began in 2001.
