UK's Brown to make Afghanistan statement next week

LONDON (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Gordon Brown will make a statement to parliament on Afghanistan on Wednesday, his spokesman said on Friday, as expectations grow Britain will boost its troop levels.

Worsening violence in the U.S.-led eight-year war with the Taliban has triggered calls for a change of strategy, including the possibility of NATO forces sending more troops to try to stabilise larger areas of Afghanistan.

Britain has about 9,000 troops on the ground and could send about another 500, according to British media reports.

The ministry of defence confirmed a soldier had been killed by an explosion in central Helmand province on Thursday morning, taking the British army death toll to 221 in the conflict.

"The Prime Minister is open minded on the question of whether more troops are needed in Afghanistan and whether we should send more troops," Brown's spokesman told reporters.

"We've always said that more troops would have to be subject to a number of criteria -- feasibility of sending the right equipment, the right strategy internationally and particularly this issue of 'Afghanisation' ... and obviously proper burden sharing."

Britain's opposition Conservatives, leading in opinion polls ahead of an election due by next year, have said more British troops should be sent to help train the Afghan army.

Brown had a video conference call with U.S. President Barack Obama to discuss Afghanistan on Thursday, with Brown keen to see a full Afghan security force trained up by the end of next year to ease the burden on the NATO coalition.

Obama is mulling a recommendation to send 40,000 extra U.S. soldiers to Afghanistan. There are now more than 100,000 Western troops in the warzone -- most of them American.