Brown forced to defend strategy and send in 140 troops

Paratroopers in Afghanistan. Another 140 troops are being sent to fight the Taliban

Gordon Brown was forced to defend his strategy on Afghanistan this afternoon as doubts grew in the wake of mounting losses.

Facing a sombre House of Commons, the Prime Minister said: "I am confident that we are right to be in Afghanistan, that we have the strongest possible plan and that we have the resources to do the job."

Amid angry charges from the Opposition that soldiers were not getting the helicopters or manpower they need, Mr Brown said an extra 140 soldiers will fly into the conflict zone to boost the fight against the Taliban. He announced a special Commons debate on Thursday.

Mr Brown acknowledged that the losses were severe but insisted the war was vital. "It has been a very difficult summer and it's not over yet," he said. "But if we are to deny Helmand to the Taliban, if we are to defeat this vicious insurgency and in doing so make Britain and the world a safer place, we must persist with our operations."

He told MPs: "I have been reassured by commanders on the ground and at the top of our Armed Forces that we have the manpower we need for current operations."

In the past two years the number of helicopters had risen by 60 per cent with the number of flying hours raised by 84 per cent. He said troops were better equipped than ever and their overall numbers would be reviewed after the Afghan elections

But Tory leader David Cameron said the increase in helicopters had failed to keep pace with the swelling size of the Army force in southern Afghanistan. He said: "The number of troops has doubled since 2006 so proportionately there hasn't been an increase in capacity at all."

The Premier said the war was vital because three-quarters of terrorist plots against the UK had originated in the mountainous region between Pakistan and Afghanistan.

But fears that the Government had pursued an over-ambitious strategy in Afghanistan from the start were being voiced by senior statesmen.

Writing in today's Evening Standard, former Foreign Secretary Lord Owen urged the Prime Minister to appoint a new minister to mastermind the war strategy and to replace the head of the Armed Forces.

"It is becoming ever clearer that we need a fundamental rethink of our position in Afghanistan," he said.

Lord Owen said the Prime Minister should recall heavyweight Lord Robertson to oversee not only defence but foreign and aid policy to the region.

"It would do a lot to restore confidence if he could persuade a greatly respected former defence secretary and Nato secretary-general, George Robertson, to come back into government with the authority to oversee government policy on foreign, defence and overseas aid in Afghanistan and Pakistan," he said.

Lord Ashdown, the former Liberal Democrat leader and ex-commando, said the UK had set "ludicrously over-ambitious targets" to create a democracy and "set ourselves up for failure".

"I think this is now absolutely on the cusp," he warned. "The dynamic has been moving against us."

With the chorus of misgivings getting louder, the Defence Secretary made no attempt to play down the dangers facing troops.

"We have now lost 184 lives in this conflict and each and every one of them is a terrible loss," said Mr Ainsworth. "This last week has been a hard week for those serving in theatre but their resolve is incredible. In the face of these tough times they are determined to get on with their mission and in the teeth of heavy resistance they are making progress."

He said no amount of helicopters could have prevented the rising casualty rate because soldiers needed to fight on the ground, adding: "The changes in the way in which the operations are being conducted leads to more ground operations and these cannot be conducted from helicopters."

But Conservative spokesman Liam Fox said the Government had made a grave mistake by cutting the helicopter budget in 2004 by £1.4 billion.

Former Liberal Democrat leader Sir Menzies Campbell accused the Government of lacking a "comprehensive strategy" to defeat the Taliban.

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