UK to send 5,700 troops to Afghanistan

The UK is to send almost 5,000 extra troops to Afghanistan by July in a £1 billion three-year deployment.

Following Cabinet agreement Defence Secretary John Reid announced the move to send a "potent force" to Afghanistan in the House of Commons this afternoon.

The force being deployed will include helicopter gunships in an expanded "protect and deter" role in the southern region of Helmand.

Speaking to the House, the Defence Secretary said: "The size and structure of the task-force has been guided by a careful assessment of the likely tasks and threats it will face.

"What matters is that we put the right forces in to do the job, and to do it safely, and to do it well. I make no apology if that has required more soldiers than some people initially envisaged."

Mr Reid said it was not a "counter terrorism" operation, but was designed to prevent "achievements" being lost and the region and letting it become a sanctuary for terrorists. "We have seen where that leads, be it New York or London," he said.

Most of the UK contingent will be based in the Helmand area which is a hotbed of insurgent activity and a major opium growing region where allied forces have previously engaged in full-scale counter-insurgency measures.

Shadow Foreign Secretary Liam Fox said that his party would be holding the government to account on the troop deployment which he said could not be seen to "act and fail."

The major deployment of British troops comes as Nato forces in Afghanistan come under UK control in May.

As reconstruction efforts in the country continue, Taleban insurgents have adopted suicide car bombing tactics against US forces engaged in counter-terrorist activities in the southern region.

Some 850 British soldiers are currently serving in Afghanistan, mainly in the northern sector.

(SP/KMcA)