Brown to consider Afghanistan troop boost

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown is "open-minded" about whether to increase the kingdom's military presence in Afghanistan, his office has claimed.

Any increase, however, will depended on the right strategy being in place and the necessary equipment being available for the personnel, a Downing Street spokesman said on Thursday.

As America's biggest NATO ally in Afghanistan, Britain has stationed over 9,000 troops in some of the most violent parts of the war-ravaged country.

This is while reports indicate that British troops fighting in Afghanistan will not have enough vehicles until the end of next year.

The army also faces a shortage of helicopters which, critics believe, has led to greater risks for the soldiers traveling on roads.

Brigadier Kevin Abraham, a senior Army commander, disclosed on Thursday that there will only be enough new vehicles to combat Taliban bombs in place for the current count of 9,000 soldiers by the end of 2010.

Taliban attacks on British troops, stationed at the Helmand province, has accounted for 80 percent of British casualties in the bloodiest summer to date.

US officials, however, want the Prime Minster to contribute additional 2,000-2,500 British troops to “substantially speed up” the training of the Afghan National Army. The request was rejected by the UK Government earlier this year.

British commanders in Helmand have also asked the Government for a "mini-surge" in UK forces in the province to help train the Afghan Army.

Britain claims that training the Afghan army would speed up the timetable for a British withdrawal from a conflict that has become increasingly unpopular in the country.

The Bush administration waged the war code-named "Operation Enduring Freedom" on Afghanistan in 2001, supposedly to capture Osama bin Laden, and destroy al-Qaeda and Taliban.

The invasion of Afghanistan was also justified as part of the West's purported “war on terror” and "war on drugs" campaign.