Britain has decided to send a fresh wave of troops to Afghanistan before an expected spring offensive by the Taliban, which reacted by threatening to step up suicide bomb attacks on NATO forces.
Defence Secretary Des Browne said in a statement today that the government took its decision after failing to persuade other NATO members to send reinforcements to Helmand province, the southern region where a Taliban insurgency flared last year.
"We have decided that it is right for the UK to provide some additional forces for the Southern Region," Mr Browne said. Taliban commander Mullah Dadullah told Britain's Channel 4 News the Taliban would carry out more suicide attacks on NATO forces.
"The suicide bombers are countless," he said in an interview recorded on the Afghan-Pakistan border. "Hundreds of suicide bombers have already registered their names, hundreds more are waiting."
"More troops means more will be killed, and that would make us happy; we're happy for them to come."
Britain already has some 5,000 troops in Helmand province, and the Guardian newspaper said it planned to send more than 1,000 reinforcements. Mr Browne did not mention a number today, but announced on February 1 stthat he would send an extra 800 troops to Helmand "by the late summer".
Two days ago, Prime Minister Tony Blair said Britain would withdraw about 1,600 of its 7,100 troops from Iraq in the coming months.
Last year was the bloodiest in Afghanistan since US-led troops overthrew the Taliban government in 2001 for harbouring Osama bin Laden and his al Qaeda network after September 11th.
NATO has more than 33,000 troops in Afghanistan but Britain and the United States have struggled to persuade other members to send more troops, or to agree to deploy existing units to tackle the Taliban in their southern and eastern strongholds.