Britain is ready to send more troops to Afghanistan to support an increase in U.S. troop numbers there, Reuters cited the head of the British army as saying today. General Sir Richard Dannatt told the Times newspaper members of 12 Mechanised Brigade, who were ready for deployment to Iraq but were later stood down, had been "earmarked for Afghanistan". He said there were no plans to send the whole brigade of about 4,000 but the number of British troops serving in the country could rise to somewhere in between the current level of 8,300 and 12,000. The Ministry of Defence said no final decision on numbers had been taken.
