Afstan: 500 more British troops confirmed/Update: PM Harper holds fast

Total to be 9,500:

Britain will send 500 more soldiers to Afghanistan in December as part of a broader surge in NATO-led troop levels to tackle worsening violence and train Afghan forces, Prime Minister Gordon Brown said on Monday.

Brown's confirmation of an earlier, conditional pledge comes a day before U.S. President Barack Obama is expected to announce 30,000 more troops to fight the Taliban and train Afghans so that foreign forces can eventually be withdrawn.

"I believe over the coming months even more countries will respond," Brown told parliament...

In October Brown said he would be prepared to send the extra troops -- taking Britain's force level to 9,500 -- as long as other coalition countries sent more soldiers, the right equipment was available and Afghan troops were trained faster.

Britain also has about 500 special forces soldiers in Afghanistan in addition to the main troops [emphasis added, our government says practically nothing about our special forces, including their numbers], Brown said...

As for other NATO members, an earlier post:

Afstan: Less to any NATO surge than meets the eye

And to put the British numbers into, er, perspective:

...
By the way, when the Marines have some 20,000 troops in Afstan early next year, they alone will have more than twice as many forces there than the next largest foreign contingent, the Brits with some 9,000. Something to ponder...

Remember too that the British contingent is about twice as big as the next largest: the Germans [see p. 2 here] who, unlike the Brits, barely fight.

Update: Meanwhile our prime minister is holding fast:

Canadians prepare for key role as NATO readies for last stand [good grief!] in Afghanistan
...
Though Canada will likely be central in the push to improve security in Kandahar, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said that was unlikely to influence plans to end the military mission in 2011 [note nothing about "combat", see end of this post].

"I don't sense any desire on the part of parliamentarians to do that," he told reporters at the Commonwealth summit in Trinidad and Tobago.

"We're right now examining how Canada can move forward with enhanced civilian presence, a focus on development and humanitarian aid."

As NATO members await details of Obama's plans for Afghanistan, they're keen to establish the parameters of an eventual withdrawal of international forces.

While at the Commonwealth summit, UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown announced plans to hold a conference in January that would establish benchmarks for the gradual handover of Afghanistan's security to local forces...

Related:

"U.S. set to hand Canada larger role in Afghanistan"

Upperdate: UK grand total will in fact be around 10,000:

In a detailed Commons statement, Mr Brown confirmed that all the conditions had been met to allow an extra 500 troops to be deployed in December - taking the force level to 9,500.

But he also disclosed that when special forces were included, the "total military effort" in Afghanistan will be in excess of 10,000 troops [story has video of PM Brown's Commons statement, more on those special forces here]...

Meanwhile, nothing more from the French (who are already doing more than the Germans or Italians--the Italians may do a little bit more):

...Mr. Obama spent much of Monday calling allied leaders.

He spoke for 40 minutes with President Nicolas Sarkozy of France, who signaled that France was not in a position to commit more troops. There are currently 3,750 French soldiers and 150 police officers in Afghanistan.

“He said France would stay at current troop levels for as long as it takes to stabilize Afghanistan,” said an official briefed on the exchange, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe a private diplomatic exchange.

Instead of troops, Mr. Sarkozy told Mr. Obama that France was putting its focus on a conference in London sponsored by Germany and Britain to rally support for Afghanistan, officials in Washington and France said.

The French defense minister, Hervé Morin, publicly confirmed the French position on Monday, saying, “There is no question for now of raising numbers.”..