UK sends 130 more troops to Afghanistan

reuters: Britain announced 130 more troops for Afghanistan on Thursday, but senior military sources said no additional large scale deployment was planned despite worsening clashes there.

The sources said a review of force levels is under way and results should be ready within a few weeks, but the only additional forces they expect to require would be support troops for the 3,200 on the ground.

Defense Secretary Des Browne announced the additional force on Thursday, a group of 130 troops sent to help secure the air base in Kandahar, a key target.

Commanders acknowledge that Britain has little spare military capacity because it has launched the southern Afghanistan mission before wrapping up its mission in southern Iraq, but they say they can meet commitments announced so far.

British troops are spearheading a major expansion of NATO peacekeepers into volatile areas in the south of the country, which have seen some of their worst fighting since U.S.-backed Afghan forces defeated the Taliban in 2001. Read more

db: More 'peacekeepers' to fight the 'defeated' Taliban.