UK-US call for Afghan war support

The meeting with Ms Rice comes at a crucial moment

The prime minister and the US secretary of state have called for the burden of fighting the Taleban in Afghanistan to be shared by Nato allies.

Downing Street said Gordon Brown and Condoleezza Rice discussed ways to get more out of Nato members who were not allowing troops to serve in the south.

Ms Rice said Nato was facing a "real test" as some countries were staying out of the more dangerous areas.

She was in London for talks with the PM and Foreign Secretary David Miliband.

Her visit sparked demonstrations by some 250 protesters from the Stop the War Coalition who gathered near Downing Street.

Map of troop deployments in Afghanistan

After an earlier meeting with Mr Miliband, Ms Rice said Nato faced a tough battle to bring security to Afghanistan.

German pledge

Meanwhile, Germany said it would send a rapid reaction force to northern Afghanistan in the next few months to replace Norwegian troops based there.

Defence Minister Franz Josef Jung said the 200-strong force would be based in Mazar-e-Sharif, but would be deployed elsewhere in an emergency.

Germany and France are among the nations who have been criticised for not sending forces to the south of Afghanistan, which has seen the most intense fighting.

Some 250 anti-war protesters gathered in Whitehall

Speaking in London, Ms Rice said: "The alliance is facing a real test here. And it is a test of alliance strength."

She added that people needed to understand it was not a peace-keeping mission in Afghanistan, but a counter-insurgency fight.

Mr Miliband meanwhile said Britain had enough troops in the country to carry out its current mission.

"I am confident that the 7,700 troops that we have got in Afghanistan are the right number. They are doing an outstanding job with bravery and intelligence and skill," he said.

'Burden sharing'

Earlier, Mr Brown told MPs: "What we are looking for... is a determination on the part of all our allies to ensure the burden sharing in Afghanistan is fair."

He said he wanted their commitment in time for the Nato summit in Bucharest in April.

Shadow foreign secretary William Hague said tough talking was needed over the coming weeks.

He warned if Nato failed in Afghanistan it would affect all of the members of Nato as well as countries which were not in the alliance.

On her flight to England, Ms Rice told reporters she wanted to "intensify discussions about Afghanistan".

She also said the appointment of a high-level figure to co-ordinate international civilian and military operations in Afghanistan was high on the agenda.

Last month, Afghanistan rejected the candidacy of Paddy Ashdown as the new United Nations envoy to the country.

This worsened already rocky relations with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who has rejected much of the international strategy for his country.

'Perfect storm'

BBC diplomatic correspondent James Robbins said the talks were taking place at a critical time when the US and UK needed to "galvanise international action".

After a media conference, he said Ms Rice had been "pretty blunt while trying to put the most positive gloss on what was happening in Afghanistan".

Our correspondent described the situation there as a crisis that seemed to have reached an "almost perfect storm" - with the Taleban neither winning, nor defeated.

He said both Ms Rice and Mr Miliband acknowledged the drugs problem was far from resolved and there were difficulties with the Afghan government which had to step up and fight corruption in its own ranks.

LEAD NATIONS IN REGIONAL COMMAND CENTRES

Countries contributing more than 1,000 troops as of December 2007

Canada 1,730 France 1,292 Germany 3,155 Italy 2,358 Netherlands 1,512

Poland 1,141 Turkey 1,219 UK 7,753 US 15,038

Source: ISAF

Michael Williams, head of the transatlantic security programme at the Royal United Services Institute, said there was no willingness to change among most of the allies.

"It is a poorly defined mission in Afghanistan, it is difficult to execute with a common strategy. That is the root of the problem.

"What this meeting is going to do is look at this and how to convince the allies to participate more. But it is too far down the line, I don't think anyone is going to change how they are engaged."

British deployments

Earlier, Defence Secretary Des Browne announced the lead brigade in Afghanistan would change in April to 16 Air Assault Brigade, which would provide the bulk of the units serving in Afghanistan.

They will take over from 52 Infantry Brigade, as part of the regular six-monthly rotation of British forces.

New deployments will also include the 2nd and 3rd Battalions of the Parachute Regiment, the Royal Highland Fusiliers and the 1st Battalion of the Royal Irish Regiment.

The new deployments are due to remain in place until October.

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