British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said on Monday that Britain will send 500 more soldiers to Afghanistan in early December, raising troop numbers to 9,500 and that other countries will increase their troop contribution there. Brown's confirmation of an earlier, conditional pledge comes a day before US President Barack Obama is expected to announce 30,000 more troops to fight the Taliban and to help train Afghan forces so that foreign forces can eventually be withdrawn. I can confirm that we will move to a new force level of 9,500 -- the extra troops will deploy in early December to thicken the UK troop presence in central Helmand, Brown told parliament.
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