LONDON, Nov 22: The British government believes that more than the country’s foreign policy it is the extremist view of Islam which is causing radicalisation of the Muslim youth in Britain, say officials.

“People should recognise that the problem is multi-faceted, and it is not limited to this country, and if people listened to what President Musharraf and President Karzai had both said, it is strongly in line with what the prime minister had said on many occasions,” said the prime minister’s official spokesman when asked if Premier Tony Blair agreed with Home Secretary John Reid that the British foreign policy was a factor in the radicalisation of the Muslim youth.

The spokesman said the root causes went deeper than Britain’s foreign policy on Iraq and Afghanistan to the kind of extremist view of Islam which was causing problems not just in Britain or the rest of Europe but also in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Indonesia.

However, despite such spins on Britain’s Iraq policy and its impact on the British Muslim youth, the government here seems to be under continued pressure to withdraw as soon as possible from Basra where it has stationed 7,200 troops.

So, on Wednesday it was Foreign Secretary Margaret Becket reassuring MPs that London would be able to “achieve transition … at some point next spring.”

Chancellor Gordon Brown while visiting Iraq last week had given a deadline of a couple of months. In October, the prime minister had said that troop withdrawal could start in 12 months time.

The foreign office referring to the foreign secretary’s statement said this did not mean all UK troops would be leaving Basra.

Mrs Beckett said: "The process of transferring security responsibilities to Iraqi security forces is well under way.

"(Iraqi) Prime Minister Maliki is determined to press ahead with that and we are equally determined to help him do so successfully,” she added.