Brown to push UK troop surge in Afghanistan over 10,000

Britain’s military commitment in Afghanistan is set to rise above the 10,000 mark, Gordon Brown announced tonight.

The British Prime Minister confirmed that all the conditions had been met to allow an extra 500 troops to be deployed next month – taking the regular level to 9,500.

But he also broke convention by giving an indication of how many special forces were active in the country.

In a statement to MPs, Mr Brown said: “I believe the British people have a right to know and deserve the assurance that our highly professional, widely respected, and extraordinarily brave special forces are playing their full role not only in force protection but in taking the fight directly to the Taliban, working in theatre alongside our regular forces.

“And I want the whole country to pay tribute to them.

“Taking into account these special forces, their supporting troops and the increases announced today our total military effort in Afghanistan will be in excess of 10,000 troops.”

UK special forces have been operating in Afghanistan ever since the invasion in 2001, but numbers and details of their activities have been a closely guarded secret.

One of their main current roles is understood to be targeting insurgent groups which plant explosive devices – the most common cause of casualties among British forces.

Mr Brown’s statement came shortly before he was due to hold a video conference with US President Barack Obama to discuss the Nato campaign.

Mr Obama is expected to announce tomorrow that he will send up to 35,000 more US troops in a bid to regain the upper hand against the Taliban.

Mr Brown said the three conditions for increasing British military manpower - that they would be properly equipped, that coalition partners would also put in extra troops and that the Afghan Government would boost its own security effort - had now been met.

He told MPs the “military surge” would be complemented by a “political surge” with more Afghan police, a police reform plan and more effective and accountable local administration in Afghanistan.

He added that the Government would be “failing in our duty” if it did not work with coalition partners to counter the threat posed by the Taliban and al Qaida and help ensure a “safer Britain”.

“As long as the Afghan/Pakistan border areas are the location of choice for al Qaida and the epicentre of global terrorism, it is the Government’s judgment that we must address the terrorist threat at its source,” he said.

The difficult task facing British troops was underlined after Mr Brown finished speaking, when the Ministry of Defence announced that another soldier had been killed.

The serviceman, from 1st Battalion Coldstream Guards, died from the wounds he received in an explosion in the Babaji area of Helmand province this morning.