Enlarge imageBy Peter Graff
LONDON (Reuters) - The government will announce on Thursday its long-awaited plans for an expanded NATO mission in Afghanistan, expected to include 3,000-4,000 new troops.
Secretary of Defence John Reid told parliament on Wednesday he had not made his final decision about the deployment, but would make an announcement after consulting cabinet colleagues over the next 24 hours.
However the Ministry of Defence confirmed that about 3,000 troops from the 16th Air Assault Brigade had been training on Salisbury Plain in southern England this week "for a possible deployment to Afghanistan".
Reid is to visit them on Friday, the day after his announcement to parliament about deployment plans.
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Britain has already committed itself to sending a headquarters contingent of about 900 troops to join about 1,000 it has in Afghanistan now, when it takes over command of the NATO peacekeeping force in Afghanistan in May.
A substantially larger NATO force is needed to take over the fighting duties now carried out by 18,000 American troops. Some European countries have been reluctant to commit troops to a mission that will see a greater risk of combat.
DANGEROUS SOUTH
Under British command NATO is expected to expand its patrols from the comparatively peaceful north of the country to the south, now patrolled by U.S. forces fighting a more robust campaign against Taliban guerrillas.
But Reid has delayed a formal announcement on the size of the British force, saying he is still waiting for other NATO allies to agree to provide enough troops for the mission.
The Netherlands in particular has yet to confirm whether it will send 1,200 troops as planned.
Responding to media reports that Britain would despatch up to 4,000 troops, Reid told parliament: "I did, and still do, plan to make a statement tomorrow. But what I cannot say today is what that statement will say."
Britain has said in principle that it will send more troops to the southern Helmand province, but has not said how many, or precisely what role they would play in fighting guerrillas.
Britain has however made clear that the mission is a more dangerous one than the existing NATO mission in the north.
"It is a different environment. It’s a less benign environment than the north," a Defence Ministry spokesman said.
"But we will commit to this mission when we are ready to. We wouldn’t have that commitment unless we were satisfied that there’s a very important mission here, and we can protect ourselves," he said.
