ONE of Britain’s top generals has been ordered to press Nato allies to send more helicopters to Afghanistan, where they are desperately needed by British and other troops engaged in fighting the Taleban.

Lieutenant-General John Reith, the Deputy Supreme Allied Commander for Europe, is asking allies to fulfil the pledges they made when the participating countries agreed to expand the force last year. The Nato helicopter force in Afghanistan has a third fewer helicopters than it was promised. “Nato governments were happy to agree with what was needed, but when the time came to offer helicopters we were faced with a big gap,” one Nato source told The Times.

Another said: “Nato members know that helicopters are a prize asset in Afghanistan, but they have just not been forthcoming.” Lieutenant-General David Richards, Commander of the Nato force in Afghanistan, and General Sir Mike Jackson, Chief of the General Staff, both said last week that they needed more helicopters. In a hostile country with few roads and vast distances, they are essential for transport, air cover and evacuations.

Yesterday the Government tried to play down public concerns about the safety of the 3,300 British troops in southern Afghanistan. In particular, there is unease that the force is too small and inadequately equipped to take on the Tal-eban, whose forces have recently killed five British soldiers in the province of Helmand.

Tom Watson, a junior defence minister, told the Commons that no formal request had yet been made by British commanders in Afghanistan to send more troops, helicopters or fixed wing aircraft.

“Commanders have not asked for extra infantry or air cover,” Mr Watson said. He said that the only requests were for support staff and engineering equipment.

But The Times has learnt that last week British military commanders and officials from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Department for International Development had their first “stock-taking” meeting in Kabul, where they had a “long hard look” at Britain’s deployment plan.

Nicholas Kay, the FCO’s co-ordinator for southern Afghanistan, who headed the group, said yesterday: “We have all recognised helicopters could be more plentiful.” One explanation for the apparent contradiction in the government statements is that Britain has very few helicopters to spare. Britain has provided 16 helicopters for southern Afghanistan, made up of six Chinooks, four Lynxes and six Apache attack helicopters.

With the exception of one Chinook based permanently in the Falkland Islands, the rest of the RAF’s twin-rotor helicopters are based at Odiham, Hampshire. Eight of them, the newest version, the Mark 3, adapted for special forces’ operations, are still grounded because of concerns over their air worthiness since being bought from the United States for £259million.

Mr Watson was drafted in to make yesterday’s statement because Des Browne, the Defence Secretary, stayed in Scotland on constituency business, making the Ministry of Defence look flat-footed in the face of growing alarm at the worsening violence.

The debate reflected that alarm. Tobias Ellwood, a Conservative MP and former army officer who has just returned from Afghanistan, said that the protection of soldiers’ lives had to be made a priority. He called on the Government to send out armoured vehicles to give soldiers the sort of protection that they enjoy in Iraq.

“If we make the honourable decision to send more troops to Afghanistan, it is completely dishonourable of the Government to send them ill-equipped,” he said.

Liam Fox, the Shadow Defence Secretary, referred to the unease of British commanders in Afghanistan and said it was “absolutely vital” that British forces succeeded in Afghanistan. Failure would be a “catastrophic blow” to the cohesion of Nato and would “embolden our enemies,” he said.

US BOLSTERS AFGHAN FORCES

• The US is giving $2 billion worth of military weapons and vehicles to equip Afghanistan’s national army
• About 200 Humvees and 2,000 assault rifles, the first part of the donation, will arrive by the end of the year
• A total of 2,500 Humvees and tens of thousands of M-16 assault rifles will be coming in the future. About 20,000 sets of bulletproof helmets and flak jackets will also be given
• The $2 billion funding also covers the building of a national military command center for Afghanistan and is in addition to more than $2 billion already committed by the US for military equipment and facilities to Afghanistan

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