(NSI News Source Info) LONDON - April 29, 2009: Some 700 additional British troops will be sent to Afghanistan to provide security during the forthcoming presidential elections, Gordon Brown, the Prime Minister, has confirmed.
In a Commons statement, Mr Brown said the additional troops, which will take the British force to 9,000, will remain in the country until the autumn. 
In this image made available by the Ministry of Defence in London, Wednesday Feb. 18, 2009, British Royal Marines of 42 Commando, break down a door during Operation Diesel, an assault launched by British troops into the Taliban heartland in Afghanistan's notorious Sangin Valley. The operation resulted in the disruption of enemy command and control and logistics facilities, as well as the capture of four narcotics factories, millions of pounds (dollars, euros) worth of drugs, processing chemicals and equipment.
Officials made clear that there will be no permanent increase in UK troop numbers, which will return to the current level of 8,300 once the temporary "surge" is over.
Mr Brown, who visited Afghanistan and Pakistan earlier this week, said the lawless borderlands between the two countries are a "crucible of global terrorism" which ultimately threaten the security of the UK.
He echoed US president Barack Obama, who warned that extremism is a "cancer that is killing Pakistan from within".
Mr Brown was for the first time publishing a strategy document covering both Afghanistan and Pakistan.
He described security in the mountainous borderlands between the two countries as the "greatest priority" for the international community.
"They are the crucible for global terrorism, they are the breeding ground for international terrorists, they are the source of a chain of terror that links the mountains of Afghanistan and Pakistan to the streets of Britain," he said.
He said that, in Afghanistan, Britain's aim was to build up the police and army to ensure that the country's democratic government was strong enough to withstand and overcome the terrorist threat.
The goal would be to achieve a "district-by-district, province-by-province handover" to Afghan control.
In Pakistan, the focus would be on supporting education and development to prevent young people "falling under the sway of violent and extremist ideologies" while at the same time helping the security forces regain control of the border areas. 
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown (L) listens to his Pakistani counterpart Yousuf Raza Gilani during a joint press conference at The Prime Minister's House in Islamabad on April 27, 2009. Brown held talks in Pakistan after announcing a new strategy to tackle a "crucible of terrorism" on a visit to Kabul. Brown met with Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari to discuss terror threats after visiting British troops in insurgency-plagued southern Afghanistan and meeting Afghan President Hamid Karzai in Kabul.
Mr Brown said the Afghan National Army would be strengthened from 80,000 troops to 134,000 by late 2001.
However more work was needed to build up the police, who were not yet seen as an "honest and fair institution", if the rule of law was to be established.
He said that, as the US forces took on an increasing role in southern Afghanistan, UK forces would "shift the balance of our operations away from frontline combat and towards an enhanced contribution to the training" of the police and army.
In Pakistan, he said, much of Britain's £665 million aid programme for the next four years - including £125 million of education spending - would be refocused on the border areas.
At the same time, he said, senior UK and Pakistani military, intelligence and diplomatic teams would meet on a more regular basis in an "enhanced strategic dialogue".
Closer co-operation would be reinforced through a £10 million counter-terrorism capacity-building programme with the Pakistani police and security services.
Mr Brown said he would continue work on a new "concordat" on strengthening co-operation between the two nations when President Asif Ali Zardari visits Britain next month.
In this image made available by the Ministry of Defence in London, Wednesday Feb. 18, 2009, British Royal Marines of 42 Commando, break down a door during Operation Diesel, an assault launched by British troops into the Taliban heartland in Afghanistan's notorious Sangin Valley. The operation resulted in the disruption of enemy command and control and logistics facilities, as well as the capture of four narcotics factories, millions of pounds (dollars, euros) worth of drugs, processing chemicals and equipment.
Officials made clear that there will be no permanent increase in UK troop numbers, which will return to the current level of 8,300 once the temporary "surge" is over.
Mr Brown, who visited Afghanistan and Pakistan earlier this week, said the lawless borderlands between the two countries are a "crucible of global terrorism" which ultimately threaten the security of the UK.
He echoed US president Barack Obama, who warned that extremism is a "cancer that is killing Pakistan from within".
Mr Brown was for the first time publishing a strategy document covering both Afghanistan and Pakistan.
He described security in the mountainous borderlands between the two countries as the "greatest priority" for the international community.
"They are the crucible for global terrorism, they are the breeding ground for international terrorists, they are the source of a chain of terror that links the mountains of Afghanistan and Pakistan to the streets of Britain," he said.
He said that, in Afghanistan, Britain's aim was to build up the police and army to ensure that the country's democratic government was strong enough to withstand and overcome the terrorist threat.
The goal would be to achieve a "district-by-district, province-by-province handover" to Afghan control.
In Pakistan, the focus would be on supporting education and development to prevent young people "falling under the sway of violent and extremist ideologies" while at the same time helping the security forces regain control of the border areas. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown (L) listens to his Pakistani counterpart Yousuf Raza Gilani during a joint press conference at The Prime Minister's House in Islamabad on April 27, 2009. Brown held talks in Pakistan after announcing a new strategy to tackle a "crucible of terrorism" on a visit to Kabul. Brown met with Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari to discuss terror threats after visiting British troops in insurgency-plagued southern Afghanistan and meeting Afghan President Hamid Karzai in Kabul.
Mr Brown said the Afghan National Army would be strengthened from 80,000 troops to 134,000 by late 2001.
However more work was needed to build up the police, who were not yet seen as an "honest and fair institution", if the rule of law was to be established.
He said that, as the US forces took on an increasing role in southern Afghanistan, UK forces would "shift the balance of our operations away from frontline combat and towards an enhanced contribution to the training" of the police and army.
In Pakistan, he said, much of Britain's £665 million aid programme for the next four years - including £125 million of education spending - would be refocused on the border areas.
At the same time, he said, senior UK and Pakistani military, intelligence and diplomatic teams would meet on a more regular basis in an "enhanced strategic dialogue".
Closer co-operation would be reinforced through a £10 million counter-terrorism capacity-building programme with the Pakistani police and security services.
Mr Brown said he would continue work on a new "concordat" on strengthening co-operation between the two nations when President Asif Ali Zardari visits Britain next month. 
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