Brown confirms 500 more troops for Afghanistan - Summary

London (Earth Times - dpa) - Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Monday that 500 more troops will be sent to Afghanistan imminently, taking overall British troop levels to over 10,000, including special forces.

Brown told Parliament in London that the additional troops now had the sufficient level of supplies and equipment to be deployed in southern Helmand province from "early December."

Brown's confirmation of the increase in troop levels, initially announced in October, came on the eve of an expected US decision on a major troop surge in Afghanistan.

Brown said his "conditions" for committing more troops had been fulfilled as eight other countries - apart from the US - had also pledged to increase their contingents.

"It is often said that America and Britain fight alone in Afghanistan. That is wrong," said Brown, without naming the fellow NATO members that had promised to send more soldiers to Afghanistan.

Brown said the increase in British levels would serve the goal of "Afghanization," which would eventually allow British soldiers to "come home."

The total figure of more than 10,000 British troops includes several hundred members of the elite Special Air Services (SAS), who would "take the fight directly to the Taliban," Brown said.

However, experts pointed out that, even though Brown made a point of including the SAS in the overall count, the elite troops, who engage in highly secretive undercover operations, had been present in Afghanistan from 2001.

Brown said he was also satisfied that the Afghan government of President Hamid Karzai would fulfill its pledge to train sufficient numbers of the Afghan National Army and security forces.

By late January 2010, Afghan troops would take over the "partnering roles we foresee for them in Helmand province," said Brown.

He called on the Karzai government to step up its efforts to fight corruption by making sure that all 400 district governors in the county were appointed purely "on merit."

Brown, who was later Monday due to hold a video conference with US President Barack Obama, has said he is confident that, following the US troop announcement, Europe's NATO partners would be prepared to muster an additional 5,000 soldiers for Afghanistan.