Petraeus in Afghan talks with PM

General Petraeus will oversee operations in Afghanistan

US commander General David Petraeus has met Gordon Brown at Downing Street for talks on Afghanistan.

Gen Petraeus, who is to head US Central Command covering Iraq and Afghanistan, would not be drawn on whether more UK troops were needed.

Speaking after the meeting, he said the UK had made a "very good" contribution but it was for Nato and others to decide how to "source the forces".

He said the Afghan national army and police also had to be increased.

'Greater coalition'

Gen Petraeus, who until recently was the top military commander in Iraq, will take over as head of Central Command next month, covering an area from the Horn of Africa into central Asia, including operations in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Most of Britain's troops - nearly 8,000 of them - are based in the southern Helmand province - troop numbers have doubled in the past two years and are due to increase by about 230 next spring.

Gen Petraeus said it was for the "greater coalition" to decide "how to generate the additional forces".

"I think it is up to the coalition how to source the forces. I think that the UK has responded with a very good contribution, doubling its force," he said.

He also said there had been "significant progress" in some areas of Afghanistan but added: "There's no question that the trends in terms of violence and so forth have been in the wrong direction.

"In that case you're either spiralling downwards or upwards and in certain areas in Afghanistan clearly there has been a spiral downward that all involved... want to arrest."

Coalition commanders were determined to keep fighting throughout the harsh Afghan winter, he said.

"I think that we are going to endeavour to continue a higher level of operational tempo throughout so that there is not the lull in the fighting season and we continue to take the fight to the enemy."