The Government said today there would be no permanent increase in British troop numbers in Afghanistan once a temporary ‘‘surge’’ for the presidential elections was over.

In the Commons, Gordon Brown confirmed plans agreed at the Nato 60th anniversary summit earlier this month to deploy an additional 700 British troops - taking the total to 9,000 - to provide security during the elections in August.

But in a written statement, Defence Secretary John Hutton said that they would return to an ‘‘enduring presence’’ of 8,300 troops next year.

In an interview last month with The Times, the head of the Army, General Sir Richard Dannatt, had indicated that Britain was considering an increase of around 2,000 troops following the impending withdrawal of UK forces from Iraq.

However it is understood that - with the majority of the additional 17,000 US troops announced by President Barack Obama due to be deployed in southern Afghanistan where the British are based - commanders have now concluded that there is no need for an increase in the permanent UK presence.

In his Commons statement, Mr Brown said that as the US forces built up, the British would over time ‘‘shift the balance of our operations’’ away from front line combat towards more of a training role for the Afghan police and army.

The Prime Minister was publishing the Government’s first strategy document covering both Afghanistan and Pakistan, following a similar move by the the Obama administration.

Mr Brown, who visited the region earlier this week, said that the two countries could not be viewed in isolation, describing the mountainous border region between them as a ‘‘crucible for global terrorism’’.

He echoed Mr Obama’s warning that al Qaida and its allies in the Taliban were ‘‘a cancer that risks killing Pakistan from within’’.

While the Government’s strategy in Afghanistan is based on building up the country’s own security forces, in Pakistan it will seek to tackle the underlying causes of terrorism the prevent young people ‘‘falling under the sway of violent and extremist ideologies’’.

Much of Britain’s £665 million aid programme for Pakistan for the next four years - including £125 million of education spending - will now be refocused on the border areas.

At the same time, security co-operation will be increased with regular meetings between senior UK and Pakistani military, intelligence and diplomatic officials in an ‘‘enhanced strategic dialogue’’.

The additional British troops being sent to Afghanistan for the elections - part of a temporary 5,000 increase in the Nato force - will include two infantry companies from the 4th Battalion, The Rifles.

More bomb disposal experts are also being sent to deal with roadside bombs - currently the main threat facing British forces - while surveillance aircraft, helicopters, and unmanned drones will be deployed to track the Taliban fighters who plant them.

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