UK sends 130 more troops to Afghanistan

By Peter Graff

LONOON (Reuters) – Britain announced 130 more troops for
Afghanistan on Thursday, but senior military sources said no
additional large scale deployment was planned despite worsening
clashes there.

The sources said a review of force levels is under way and
results should be ready within a few weeks, but the only
additional forces they expect to require would be support
troops for the 3,200 on the ground.

Defense Secretary Des Browne announced the additional force
on Thursday, a group of 130 troops sent to help secure the air
base in Kandahar, a key target.

Commanders acknowledge that Britain has little spare
military capacity because it has launched the southern
Afghanistan mission before wrapping up its mission in southern
Iraq, but they say they can meet commitments announced so far.

British troops are spearheading a major expansion of NATO
peacekeepers into volatile areas in the south of the country,
which have seen some of their worst fighting since U.S.-backed
Afghan forces defeated the Taliban in 2001.

A battalion of elite British paratroopers is taking on
Taliban insurgents in Helmand province, which produces more
than a quarter of Afghanistan’s opium. Canada and the
Netherlands have also committed large forces to neighboring
provinces.

The British force in Helmand suffered its first combat
death last week in a clash with suspected Taliban insurgents,
and there has been disquiet in British media about the extent
to which troops will be battling insurgents rather than
peacekeeping.

U.S. commanders — still in control of the area until NATO
takes over next month — have launched “Operation Mountain
Thrust” against insurgents in southern provinces. The offensive
includes newly-arrived Canadian and British troops sent to join
the expanding NATO force.

The military sources, speaking under condition of
anonymity, said newly arrived British troops had been
dispatched to remote and restive parts of Helmand province
sooner in their mission than they had initially planned, but
were ready for clashes.

If the situation worsens in Helmand, British forces can
call on U.S.-led air power and assistance from other NATO
troops in the country, the sources said.