UK to 'look hard' at troop calls

Miliband says he does not think increasing troop numbers alone is 'the answer'

Britain will "look hard" at requests from the US president-elect for more UK troops to be sent to Afghanistan, the foreign secretary has said.

David Miliband told the Daily Telegraph the government was waiting to see what Barack Obama's new strategy would be.

"If there are requests for help - economic, social or military - we'll look at them hard," he said.

News of his remarks came a day after the government announced two Royal Marines had died Helmand province.

Their deaths bring the number of UK forces killed in Afghanistan since the start of operations in 2001 to 128.

Troop speculation

President-elect Obama has promised to "focus on Afghanistan".

He has said he will send two more combat brigades, and there has been much speculation as to whether Britain would follow suit. Britain has about 8,000 troops in Afghanistan.

Mr Miliband told the Daily Telegraph: "We have never been in blanket refusal... But the British people don't want to feel it's always us who gets the nod; they want to know that others will do it."

Asked if he understood public concerns that troops were fighting a hopeless war, he said: "The test is whether Britain would be safer if we pulled out now.

"If the international coalition did that, Afghanistan would fall to the Taleban, and the country that incubated terrorism would become the incubator again."

US defence officials are believed to have suggested the UK should send more than 2,000 extra troops to Afghanistan, but Mr Miliband denied the claim earlier this week.

During a visit to the country, he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme these figures were based on "speculation".

He said he wanted to ensure that if Mr Obama asked Britain to send more troops, any deployment would be part of a clear military, political and economic strategy.

He said: "Any question of more troops depends on what they would do and if it is part of a genuine comprehensive strategy.

"The biggest source of new troops is the Afghanistan National Army."