UK to send 500 extra troops to Afghanistan - Brown

By Matt Falloon

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain will send 500 more soldiers to Afghanistan in December as part of a broader surge in NATO-led troop levels to tackle worsening violence and train Afghan forces, Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Monday.

Brown's confirmation of an earlier, conditional pledge comes a day before U.S. President Barack Obama is expected to announce 30,000 more troops to fight the Taliban and train Afghans so that foreign forces can eventually be withdrawn.

"I believe over the coming months even more countries will respond," Brown told parliament.

A spike in casualties in the eight-year war against the Taliban has forced NATO military chiefs to rethink their strategy and call for more troops to stabilise conditions after presidential elections this year.

A British soldier was killed by an explosion in Helmand province Monday, taking the total number of British deaths in Afghanistan to 236, the defence ministry said.

Obama spoke to Brown, as well as French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, Monday on the new strategy, the White House said.

In October Brown said he would be prepared to send the extra troops -- taking Britain's force level to 9,500 -- as long as other coalition countries sent more soldiers, the right equipment was available and Afghan troops were trained faster.

Britain also has about 500 special forces soldiers in Afghanistan in addition to the main troops, Brown said.