Britain sends troops

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown confirmed on Monday that 500 extra UK troops will soon be heading to Afghanistan to combat a growing Taliban insurgency there. Britain already has about 9,500 troops stationed in the country.

The prime minister told lawmakers that the reinforcements would be deployed in early December to Afghanistan's southern Helmand province.

Brown said the reinforcements would include Special Forces and support staff. The troops will be "playing their full role taking the fight directly to the Taliban," the premier said.

"As long as the Afghanistan/Pakistan border areas are the location of choice for al-Qaeda and the epicenter of global terrorism, it is the government's judgment that we should address the threat at its source," he added.

In October, Brown had said he was prepared to send extra forces to Afghanistan as long as other coalition countries also sent more soldiers, the right equipment was available, and more Afghan troops were trained more quickly.

NATO preparing a troop surge in Afghanistan

The prime minister, citing NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen, also said that eight other NATO members, apart from the United States, had agreed to send more troops to Afghanistan.

US President Barack Obama is expected to announce officially on Tuesday that Washington is gearing up to send between 30,000 and 35,000 more troops to Afghanistan to bolster the 68,000 American forces already there.

A spokesman for the White House said on Monday that the president had already ordered the implementation of his new Afghanistan strategy and was informing the leaders of Russia, Britain, France, Italy and Australia of his plans.

gb/AP/AFP/Reuters
Editor: Michael Lawton