Hundreds of extra combat troops will be deployed to southern Afghanistan under plans being drawn up by the Ministry of Defence as part of a review of tactics by British and Nato commanders.
The contingency proposals have become necessary because of the unexpected strength of Taliban fighters who have drawn British troops into a series of clashes. Over the weekend, two more British soldiers were killed in fierce fighting in the province of Helmand, and yesterday British commanders made it clear they want better equipment for their troops, including helicopters and armoured vehicles.
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Defence officials said yesterday there were no plans to increase the total number of British combat troops from the 3,300 announced in the Commons earlier this year. However, defence sources said extra infantry could replace 800 engineers who have finished building Camp Bastion, the British base near Lashkar Gah.
Any increase of combat troops is likely to provoke renewed concern about the mission in Afghanistan, and how its terms of reference have changed from reconstruction to fighting. Yesterday Mike Gapes, Labour chairman of the Commons foreign affairs committee, demanded an urgent statement from the government about the objectives British troops were being asked to achieve.
"I certainly feel that our forces there need proper protection and equipment and we need to have a clear explanation of what we are likely to be in over the long term here. There are signs that the tactics that have brought such devastation to Iraq are being replicated in Afghanistan," the committee warned in a report published yesterday.
Two soldiers from the 3 Para battlegroup were killed, and four injured, on Saturday in a firefight at their forward base in the Sangin valley, northeast of Helmand proviince. An Afghan interpreter was also killed.
Military spokesman Captain Drew Gibson said the base was attacked with small arms fire and rocket-propelled grenades. Lieutenant General David Richards, commander of all Nato troops in Afghanistan, has expressed concern in the past week about the size and make-up of his forces there. Yesterday he said: "No general in history has ever had as many resources as he would like. Bottom line, I am content with what I have and I have the resources required to carry out the mission."
However, Brigadier Ed Butler, commander of British forces in southern Afghanistan, warned there would be further casualties in the battle against Taliban forces. He told the BBC that the British presence there was "a very cohesive force and mission."
There were signs yesterday that ministers are becoming increasingly concerned about growing doubts among the public over Britain's mission in Afghanistan. "We can only do things with more public support," a senior defence source said.
However, British commanders say the government's stated mission for British troops - to rebuild the country - cannot be achieved without adequate security and that means fighting insurgents and Taliban fighters, many of whom are being allowed freely to come over the border from Pakistan.
There is concern, too, that the US is dictating tactics. British troops are under US command until next month when they will be part of a separate Nato-led force. The latest British deaths came amid a big anti-Taliban campaign in southern Afghanistan, Operation Mountain Thrust, involving more than 10,000 Afghan and coalition soldiers in the largest military offensive since the Taliban regime fell in late 2001.
