500 more troops set for Afghanistan
The Prime Minister has announced that Britain's total military effort in Afghanistan will increase to over 10,000 troops.
In a detailed Commons statement, Mr Brown confirmed that all the conditions had been met to allow an extra 500 troops to be deployed in December - taking the force level to 9,500.
But he also disclosed that when special forces were included, the "total military effort" in Afghanistan will be in excess of 10,000 troops.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Defence announced a British soldier has been killed in southern Afghanistan. The serviceman, from 1st Battalion Coldstream Guards, died from the wounds he received in an explosion in the Babaji area of Helmand Province. His family have been informed.
The Prime Minister's statement comes just a day before US President Barack Obama, after months of deliberation, is expected to announce that he will send up to 35,000 more US Forces.
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 that 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.
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".
Mr Brown hailed British forces as the "best in the world" but acknowledged they had suffered "heavy and tragic" losses in one of the longest military campaigns of recent times. He acknowledged that some argued it was better to counter the terrorist threat by defending "fortress Britain" and others asked why British troops were in Afghanistan at all.
"But 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. As long as three quarters of the most serious terrorist plots against Britain have links to those Pakistan/Afghan border areas, we should be failing in our duty if we didn't work with our allies to deal with the problem where it starts."
