Brown hints at Afghan troop rise

Gordon Brown has given a strong indication that more British troops will be sent to Afghanistan, during a surprise visit to the country, BBC reported.

Speaking from Helmand province, he said he wanted to speed up the training of Afghan soldiers and police, which needed the support of British troops.

He also pledged greater protection for troops from home-made roadside bombs.

There are currently 9,000 UK troops in Afghanistan - mostly in Helmand - and 207 have been killed since 2001.

Mr Brown - in his fourth visit to the country in a year - said stepping up training for Afghan troops would enable them to "take more responsibility for their own affairs".

"I think we could get another 50,000 Afghan army personnel trained over the next year.
   
[This is] new equipment simply to give better protection to our forces and at the same time to make them more manoeuvrable
Gordon Brown

"They [would be] backed up by partnering and mentoring done by the British forces."

He said new equipment was being brought in to the field, such as more armoured vehicles.

"[This is] new equipment simply to give better protection to our forces and at the same time to make them more manoeuvrable.

"That - working with a big lift in the Afghan forces - is going to be the next stage of the post-election effort in Afghanistan."

British troops had been involved in attempts to shore up security ahead of the country's presidential elections, held earlier this month.

In April, while in Helmand, Mr Brown said he wanted to see the Afghan army expanded from 75,000 to 135,000-strong by the end of 2011, as well as thousands more police. He now wants this programme brought forward by a year.

BBC deputy political editor James Landale, who was in Afghanistan with the prime minister, said some had accused Mr Brown of not doing enough to support British forces.

"After the army's bloodiest summer so far and weeks of controversy over possible helicopter shortages the prime minister wanted to show not just his support for British troops, he also wanted to restate his case for war - namely that unchecked terrorism in Afghanistan could reach the streets of Britain."

Our correspondent added that Mr Brown believed the campaign to secure the Afghan elections was worth it, despite the low turnout in some areas and the deaths of British soldiers.

He was also there to "prepare the way for more British troops being deployed", he added, in order to quicken the coalition strategy of training Afghan forces and police.

"Quicker training would need more British troops to train the Afghans and it is this which Mr Brown discussed with Gen Stanley McChrystal, the American head of Nato forces [in Afghanistan].

"[Gen McChrystal] is expected soon to tell President Obama that more troops are needed across the board and some of them will almost certainly be British."

In promising greater help to counter the threat of improvised devices - which have caused a heavy toll among British forces - Mr Brown said another 200 extra anti-IED specialists would be deployed in the autumn.

There would also be more unmanned surveillance aircraft and better protected vehicles, he said.

Last week the new head of the British army, General Sir David Richards, pledged to focus on the military effort in Afghanistan, as he took over the role.