British PM Brown: Afghan campaign hurts al Qaeda

By Keith Weir

LONDON (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said on Monday that the campaign in Afghanistan was proving more effective in combating al Qaeda than at any point since the first months of the war in 2001.

The bloodiest year for British troops in Afghanistan has fuelled growing public opposition to the campaign, creating another headache for Brown as he tries to close a big gap on the opposition Conservatives ahead of an election due by June.

In excerpts of a speech he will make on Monday evening, Brown underlined the threat he said terror plots hatched in Afghanistan and its neighbour Pakistan posed to Britain.

"So I vigorously defend our action in Afghanistan and Pakistan because Al Qaeda is today the biggest source of threat to our national security -- and to the security of peoples' lives in Britain," he said.

"And tonight I can report that more has been planned and enacted with greater success in this one year to disable al Qaeda than in any year since the original invasion in 2001," Brown added.

A government source said the presence of international forces had pushed the al Qaeda leadership into Pakistan where the Pakistani army had mounted a series of offensives against the Taliban and al Qaeda.

The source also pointed to targeted U.S. strikes on al Qaeda leaders as another sign that progress was being made.

In a foreign policy address to be delivered to the annual London Lord Mayor's Banquet, Brown said it was no time for appeasement nor to bow to a transient popular mood and sacrifice security.