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03/04/2009
PM Offers to Send More Troops To Afghanistan
Prime Minister Gordon Brown has offered to send extra British troops to Afghanistan to provide security during the upcoming presidential election.
It is likely the temporary increase in military personnel would involve "mid to high hundreds" as opposed to thousands, British officials have said.
Mr Brown made the offer today at the 60th anniversary Nato summit in Strasbourg, but it would only be carried out if other countries were willing to also send military units to help security.
Currently Britain has 8,100 troops station in Afghanistan and it is expected the UK reinforcements would be sent to Helmand Province in the south of the country - the dangerous region where British troops are already fighting off the Taleban.
An official said: "There is obviously a risk of the Taleban wanting to disrupt these elections. The smooth running of these elections is clearly in our interests.
"The Prime Minister will be making clear in instructions that we will consider a temporary increase in our troop numbers to cover the election period subject to appropriate burden-sharing."
(JM/KMcA)
It is likely the temporary increase in military personnel would involve "mid to high hundreds" as opposed to thousands, British officials have said.
Mr Brown made the offer today at the 60th anniversary Nato summit in Strasbourg, but it would only be carried out if other countries were willing to also send military units to help security.
Currently Britain has 8,100 troops station in Afghanistan and it is expected the UK reinforcements would be sent to Helmand Province in the south of the country - the dangerous region where British troops are already fighting off the Taleban.
An official said: "There is obviously a risk of the Taleban wanting to disrupt these elections. The smooth running of these elections is clearly in our interests.
"The Prime Minister will be making clear in instructions that we will consider a temporary increase in our troop numbers to cover the election period subject to appropriate burden-sharing."
(JM/KMcA)
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