An extra battle group of up to 1,500 British troops is to be sent to Afghanistan to take on the Taleban over the next few months, the Government will announce on Monday. The extensive reinforcement, bringing the number of British troops in Afghanistan to about 7,000, has been agreed with Nato after alliance partners failed to offer more infantry units to fight in the south.

General Bantz Craddock, the Supreme Allied Commander Europe (Saceur), had appealed to all Nato members to come up with additional troops during a defence ministers’ meeting in Seville this month.

Whitehall sources said that, apart from “a few bits and pieces”, no one had offered fighting troops. “We felt we couldn’t wait any longer because it would risk unravelling all the achievements we have been making in the south, so we have offered another battle group,” one said.

The deployment of up to 1,500 more troops, with armoured vehicles and extra helicopters, will be timed for when a British general takes command of the southern region in May. Major-General Jacko Page, whose 6th Division headquarters will be in Kandahar, had specifically asked for more.The new battle group will be formed into a reserve force that can be sent to any part of southern Afghanistan, not just Helmand, where 5,000 British troops are based. A further 500 are in Kabul, the capital.

The reinforcements will arrive at a time when the Taleban are expected to launch an offensive against Nato troops in the south, in an attempt to drive them out of their former strongholds in Helmand and Kandahar. Previous attempts have failed and the Taleban have suffered substantial losses.

Des Browne, the Defence Secretary, who confirmed last night that more troops would be sent, is expected to make a statement to the Commons on Monday. It will mean that Britain will have up to 6,500 soldiers in southern Afghanistan.

Mr Browne is also expected to announce the withdrawal of the 600 British troops in Bosnia. He told The Times in December that their role had become limited to policing. With the withdrawal of 1,600 troops from Iraq in May and June, as well as the Bosnia pullout, the strain on the Army will be eased, and it will make sending another 1,500 troops to Afghanistan less of a problem.

Defence sources said that there was no direct link between the pullout of 1,600 troops from Iraq and the reinforcing of the British military in Afghanistan, although they recognised that some would try to draw a connection.

“It’s really a coincidence. We have been forced to send more troops to Afghanistan because we feel it’s vital to maintain the progress we are already making,” one source said.

Liam Fox, the Shadow Defence Secretary, said it was clear that the appeal to Nato for more troops had fallen on deaf ears. “Those [extra] troops should be coming from countries such as Germany, France, Italy and Spain who have so far not shown the adequate resolve to be part of a full Nato complement in Afghanistan,” he told Today on BBC Radio 4.

Nato is running the International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) in Afghanistan with a total complement of about 35,000 troops, but most of the contributions from Nato members are small. The United States has provided the biggest force — 27,000, of whom 15,500 serve under Nato — followed by Britain.

“Too many of our European partners are now pocketing the Nato security guarantee but leaving UK taxpayers and the UK military to carry the cost,” Dr Fox said.

A Royal Marine who died after a vehicle accident in Afghanistan was named yesterday as Marine Scott Summers, 23, of 42 Commando. Marine Summers, from Crawley, West Sussex, had been in Afghanistan since last October.

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