UK's Brown says Karzai pledges more Afghan forces

LONDON (Reuters) - President Hamid Karzai has promised to provide extra Afghan security forces to reinforce British soldiers battling Taliban insurgents, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said on Wednesday.

While Brown said he was keeping the number of British troops in Afghanistan under review, his spokesman said Britain was looking to its NATO allies to make a greater contribution to defeating the Taliban.

The loss of eight British soldiers in 24 hours last week has raised questions at home about whether there are enough troops in Afghanistan, whether they are equipped properly and if Britain should be there at all.

"I've been talking to President Karzai about Afghanistan's own responsibilities and that is that they provide army and police to the operation 'Panther's Claw'. President Karzai has promised he will provide additional resources to that and I believe that is starting now," Brown told parliament.

Under hostile questioning from opposition Conservative leader David Cameron, Brown said it was not a lack of helicopters that caused the British deaths and said a commander had assured him the troops had the equipment they needed.

Britain has temporarily increased its force in Afghanistan to 9,000 during the campaign for an election next month.

"We keep under review the numbers and the equipment that is needed for the future ... We will look again at this after we've seen the Afghan election pass, hopefully, peacefully and democratically," Brown said.

Later in the year, Britain is prepared to do more work training Afghan security forces, Brown said.

Brown's spokesman said Britain's NATO partners, as well as Afghanistan, needed to make a bigger contribution to fighting the Taliban.