UK army draws up plan to send 1,000 more troops to Afghanistan India News and Travel Times Provides India-centric and other News and Features

Britain is making plans to send up to 1,000 extra troops to Afghanistan to meet the call for reinforcements made by the US commander in Kabul. The troops would be Britain's contribution to a military surge called for by General Stanley McChrystal, who commands NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan, some details of which were leaked to an American newspaper yesterday. A similar surge in troop numbers was credited with turning the tide in the war against insurgents in Iraq. An extra 1,000 troops, the equivalent of a battle group, would increase Britain's military presence to about 10,000. Britain's force is already the second biggest after the US, which has 62,000 troops in Afghanistan and will increase this to 68,000 by the autumn., The Times reports.