Via the BBC: More UK soldiers for Afghanistan:

More than 1,000 extra British troops are to be sent to Afghanistan, the BBC has learned.

Defence Secretary Des Browne will give details of the new deployment to the House of Commons on Monday.

The UK has been reluctant to add to its 6,000-strong force there as it has reinforced several times already.

[…]

Britain has recently revamped its operations in Afghanistan to put most manpower into Helmand province in the south, where the fighting is at its most fierce.

Nato and British commanders have said for some time that more resources are needed if the Taleban are to be defeated.

But until now the government has argued that countries like France and Germany should contribute more.

This makes for an interesting juxtaposition with Iraq, where the UK is starting to withdraw its forces.

The moves comes as the NATO Secretary-General is visiting Afghanistan (via Reuters, Winning Afghan war essential for West - NATO chief):

The West must win the war against Islamic militants in Afghanistan or face attacks in their own countries, NATO Secretary-General Jaap De Hoop Scheffer said on Thursday.

“If we like it or not, Afghanistan … is a frontline in the fight against those people who want to destroy the fabric of our societies,” he told a joint news conference with President Hamid Karzai after talks in Kabul.

“If we don’t succeed in Afghanistan, I am quite sure that the spoilers will come to us to the Netherlands, to Belgium, to the United Kingdom, (as) they came to the United States,” he said referring to the Sept. 11 attacks by al Qaeda.