Government Determined to Stay the Course in Afghanistan

The government's announcement today that more than 200 extra British troops are to be sent to southern Afghanistan is a clear signal that it is determined - for the foreseeable future at least - to stay the course there.

While ministers and British commanders are itching to get out of Iraq - but cannot, not least because of American political pressure - they have said that Afghanistan is vital to Britain's national security, the "front line" against al-Qaida and Taliban-inspired terrorism.

But the announcement, by Des Browne, the defence secretary, to MPs in the Commons this afternoon, is significant for a specific reason. The 230 or so extra British troops who will join the 7,800 already there will be specialists, including engineers and training instructors, who can help build up Afghanistan's civil infrastructure and train the Afghan army and police forces. As in Iraq, progress in these two areas has been extremely slow and has exasperated the security situation.

British military commanders have realized that, despite their efforts, civil agencies cannot do the job, not yet anyway. General Sir Richard Dannatt, the head of the army, revealed in a speech last Thursday that he disclosed he had directed the army to draw up plans for "permanent cadres of stabilization specialists". He envisaged a "multi-disciplined and inter-agency organization that would be capable of both fighting alongside local forces and delivering tasks in areas where the civil agencies cannot operate".

In Iraq meanwhile, Gordon Brown made it clear in his press conference after his talks with George Bush that there are more British troops - there are about 4,100 at Basra airport now - than he had initially hoped or anticipated. Brown repeated the mantra that any decision about future numbers will be based on the advice of military commanders. There would be "no artificial timetable set by politicians", he said. That may be less than the full story.