Government efforts to shore up public support for the operation in Afghanistan intensified today as the Defence Secretary insisted that progress was being made.

Bob Ainsworth followed the Prime Minister in saying that the strategy being followed to defeat the Taleban was the right one, despite the dangers involved.

In an interview with the BBC, Chancellor Alistair Darling said the Government would ensure that front-line troops were well-resourced - but is not thought his comments will see any additional funding diverted to the MoD beyond that already allocated.

He said: "You can't send troops into the front line and not be prepared to see it through in terms of the equipment, the resources that they need."

Ministers are on the defensive after the surge in British casualties over the last few days. Tom King, the former Conservative Defence Secretary, became the latest senior figure yesterday to demand more helicopters for British forces.

Eight British soldiers died in a 24-hour period last week, with a total of 15 losing their lives in 10 days.

Two killed on Thursday were named last night as Rifleman Daniel Hume, 22, of 4th Battalion the Rifles, and Private John Brackpool, 28, of 1st Battalion the Welsh Guards.

The other six were today named as Corporal Jonathan Horne, Rifleman William Aldridge, Rifleman James Backhouse, Rifleman Joseph Murphy and Rifleman Daniel Simpson, from the 2nd Battalion The Rifles were killed near Sangin, Helmand province, while Corporal Lee Scott, 26, from the 2nd Royal Tank Regiment, died in an explosion near Nad-e-Ali.

Rifleman Murphy, from Castle Bromwich, West Midlands, Rifleman Aldridge, from Bromyard, Herefordshire, and Rifleman Backhouse, from Castleford, West Yorkshire, were aged just 18.

The latest casualties, incurred during the assault against the Taleban known as Operation Panther’s Claw, took the total of British deaths in Afghanistan to 184 – more than the number killed in the Iraq war.

Mr Ainsworth said it had been a very difficult week."We have lost some good people and our hearts go out to their families, their friends and their loved ones."

However, he added: "We are making a huge contribution in Afghanistan. We are making progress; there is progress being made. We are attacking the Taleban in one of their heartland areas. The reason they are standing and fighting is they know that what we are doing potentially hurts them seriously and strategically."

He said recent comments by Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg, that troops’ lives in Afghanistan were being “thrown away” by politicians, were “extraordinary”.

He added: “This is not an American takeover, I think that is quite disgraceful for people to suggest that it is.”

Mr Ainsworth addressed criticisms that the armoured vehicles being used by British troops had been rejected by the Americans because of their lack of protection.

“What we are trying to do is to give people a complete range of vehicles to do the various jobs they need to do.

“People believe we can somehow remove the risk, that we can prevent death in this kind of operational environment - we can’t.”

Mr Ainsworth said among the recent deaths, two soldiers had been killed dismounting from a Mastiff armoured vehicle and five had died in Sangin while on a security patrol.

“They have to make sure the environs are safe... and they can’t do that from a helicopter and they can’t do that from an armoured truck,” he added.

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