New Mexico governor urges U.S., Cuba to improve ties

HAVANA, Cuba (CNN) -- The United States and Cuba should show some flexibility and take steps to improve relations, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson said Friday during a weeklong trade mission to the island nation. "There is a good atmosphere [between the two countries]," he said at a news conference in Havana on Friday. "It is the best atmosphere I've seen in many years." Richardson called for "concrete steps from both sides," but noted a "lack of flexibility in their positions" and reciprocity from the Cuban government.

He also called on the United States to "pay more attention to the Cuba issue, though acknowledged more urgent U.S. priorities like health-care reform have drawn attention away from normalizing relations.

In his first trip to Cuba in 13 years, when he negotiated the release of three political prisoners in 1996, Richardson said he is not in Cuba as a special U.S. envoy.

"My main objective is trade and to improve commercial ties with Cuba," he said, though he acknowledged plans to report recommendations to the Obama administration early next week. Watch Richardson discuss goals for Cuba trip »

Despite the near half-century trade embargo, the U.S. Treasury Department allows U.S. states to sell agricultural, medical and IT products in Cuba on a cash basis.

The governor also called on the Obama administration to ease restrictions of biotechnology products, allow Cubans to travel to the United States for academic and cultural exchanges, and implement the changes to Cuban-American travel and remittances announced in April.

He mentioned a proposal to allow diplomats in either country to move more freely and offered to broker a dialogue between the Cuban government and Cuban-Americans.

"If there's going to be a solution for the normalization of relationship between Cuba and the United States, Cuban-Americans must play a role," he said, noting that any such dialogue would not substitute government-to-government talks.

Richardson -- known for his diplomatic resume, including high-level talks with North Korea, Sudan and Iraq -- met with Cuba's National Assembly president, Ricardo Alarcon, and received a personal letter from former President Fidel Castro.

The governor also called on the Obama administration to ease restrictions of biotechnology products, allow Cubans to travel to the United States for academic and cultural exchanges, and implement the changes to Cuban-American travel and remittances announced in April.

He mentioned a proposal to allow diplomats in either country to move more freely and offered to broker a dialogue between the Cuban government and Cuban-Americans.

"If there's going to be a solution for the normalization of relationship between Cuba and the United States, Cuban-Americans must play a role," he said, noting that any such dialogue would not substitute government-to-government talks.

Richardson -- known for his diplomatic resume, including high-level talks with North Korea, Sudan and Iraq -- met with Cuba's National Assembly president, Ricardo Alarcon, and received a personal letter from former President Fidel Castro.

"It was a positive message that I got," he said of the letter.

The former presidential candidate was nominated for Commerce Secretary in the Obama administration, but withdrew amid an investigation over whether CDR Financial Products inappropriately won $1.4 million in state work for New Mexico.

Tally in Afghanistan Shows Karzai Lead Widening

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — President Hamid Karzai widened his lead in Afghan elections as new vote tallies were released Saturday, inching closer to the 50 percent threshold of votes he needs to avoid a runoff.With ballots counted from about a third of the country’s polling stations, election authorities said Mr. Karzai had 46.2 percent and his top challenger, Abdullah Abdullah, had 31.4 percent.

The country’s Independent Election Commission has been slow in releasing partial results from the Aug. 20 presidential vote, while accusations of fraud have mounted. The United Nations-backed Electoral Complaints Commission has said the number of complaints that could “materially affect” the outcome had soared to 270.

Videos of possible fraud have been posted on the Internet, and Mr. Abdullah and other challengers have made complaints about cheating.

The accusations, along with low turnout in the south because of Taliban threats of violence, could strip the vote of legitimacy in Afghan eyes. Final results are to come in late September.

The lengthy election process has added to strains in relations between the United States and Afghanistan, which had already cooled since the Obama administration took office.

Meanwhile, Britain’s prime minister, Gordon Brown, paid a surprise visit Saturday to British troops in southern Afghanistan, promising more help to cope with the Taliban insurgents who have inflicted casualties on the embattled force and undercut support in Britain for the war.

Mr. Brown, speaking at the British base in Lashkar Gah, pledged to provide more equipment to help overcome roadside bombs, a major threat to NATO forces.

A British marine was killed by a bomb in Helmand on Saturday, the Defense Ministry said in London. And, Reuters reported, an American serviceman was killed by a roadside bomb in the east, NATO-led forces said in a statement that gave no further details.

Last week, British troops cleared 337 roadside bombs from some of the most dangerous roads in Helmand Province, a main focus in the recent fighting.

“Let me pay tribute to the courage, bravery, professionalism and patriotism of our forces,” Mr. Brown told the troops. “This has been a most difficult summer in Afghanistan, because the Taliban have tried to prevent elections taking place.”

He added, “I think our forces have shown extraordinary courage during this period.”

Mr. Brown also called for speeding up the elled for speeding up the effort to train about 50,000 additional Afghan troops, which would bring the overall level trained to around 135,000.

The prime minister arrived with Air Chief Marshal Sir Jock Stirrup, chief of the British defense staff, and met with senior commanders including the top United States officer, Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal.

More than 200 British soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan since the war began in 2001 — more than Britain lost in the Iraq conflict. Many in Britain believe the mission is too open-ended, and its goals too vague.

Mr. Brown’s visit came a day after Britain replaced its top army official, Gen. David Richards, a former commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan. He succeeded Gen. Sir Richard Dannatt, who was appointed in 2006 and frequently clashed with lawmakers over defense spending, particularly relating to delays in providing helicopters.

General Richards, regarded as politically savvy, was able to build close relationships with Mr. Karzai and his ministers while leading NATO troops.

British officials said that they recognized the need for better-armored vehicles and more helicopters and that they would get them here as soon as possible.

As NATO commander, General Richards was a prominent backer of a controversial peace plan in the southern Afghan town of Musa Qala under which NATO, Afghan and Taliban soldiers were not allowed in the town.

The deal collapsed when Taliban fighters overran the area, though foreign and Afghan troops later waged a fierce battle to recapture Musa Qala.

Bush shoe thrower to be freed

An Iraqi journalist jailed after hurling his shoes at George Bush, the former US president, will be released in September.

Muntadhar al-Zaidi's sentence was reduced for good behaviour, his lawyer said on Saturday.

Karim al-Shujairi, a defence attorney, said al-Zeidi will now be released on September 14, three months early.

Al-Zaidi was initially sentenced to three years after pleading not guilty to assaulting a foreign leader, then the court reduced it to one year because the journalist had no prior criminal history.

The act of the 30-year-old reporter during Bush's last visit to Iraq as president turned him into a folk hero across the Arab world amid anger over the 2003 invasion.

The incident, which took place on December 14, embarrassed Nouri al-Maliki, the Iraqi prime minister, who was standing next to Bush at the time during a joint news conference.

Neither leader was injured, but Bush was forced to duck for cover as the journalist shouted in Arabic: "This is your farewell kiss, you dog! This is from the widows, the orphans and those who were killed in Iraq."

Yemen rebels 'seize army hardware'

Shia fighters in Yemen's north have released pictures of military equipment that they say they seized from government forces.

The images came as the UN on Saturday called for the creation of safe corridors to let people out of Saada city, now practically cut off from the outside world by nearly three weeks of fighting between government forces and the fighters.

Antonio Guterres, the UN high commissioner for refugees, said humanitarian corridors could allow the delivery of much-needed aid to thousands of displaced people in the Saada region.

The UNHCR estimates that about 35,000 people have been displaced by the fighting between the army and the Shia fighters, also known as Houthis after their leader.

Speaking in Geneva, Andrej Mahecic, a UNHCR spokesman, said that Saada, in Yemen's north, had been "practically cut off from the rest of the world".

"The residents, as well as those displaced in Saada city, are unable to leave," Mahecic said, according to a statement on the organisation's website.

There are no reliable reports of casualty figures.

'Operation Scorched Earth'

Some reports said that the Houthis had stopped government troops from advancing in several areas, including Malaheez, and Sufyan district in neighbouring Imran province.The Houthis also claimed to have captured an undetermined number of soldiers, destroying two tanks in an attack on an army point in Maqash, near Saada city.

But a military spokesman claimed that the army killed several fighters in the same clash. The government insists that it has inflicted heavy casualties on the fighters, who are from the Zaidi sect of Shia Islam.

Telehia Islam.

Television footage showed warplanes striking targets in the mountains around Saada and salvos of rockets being fired by a line of launchers.

The Houthis have accused the government of targeting civilians in its attacks.

They have also alleged neighbouring Sunni Saudi Arabia has been sending warplanes to aid Yemeni troops, during the course of the 18-day conflict, which the government has dubbed "Operation Scorched Earth".

That claim has been ridiculed by the Yemeni government which accuses Shia Iran of backing the Houthis.

The government had offered a six-point plan to end the fighting but the rebels dismissed the offer, recalling that a Qatari-brokered peace deal reached in June 2007 had never been implemented.

Japan votes in parliamentary poll

Voting has begun across Japan in parliamentary elections which are widely predicted to sweep the opposition into power.

Opinion polls indicate that the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), led by Yukio Hatoyama, will put an end to more than 50 years of almost continuous rule by the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) of Taro Aso, the prime minister.

Voting booths opened at 7am local time (22:00 GMT on Saturday) and close at 8pm (11:00 GMT on Sunday), with exit polls expected shortly afterwards.

About 103 million Japanese are eligible to vote, with turnout expected to be high.

In advertisements published in major newspapers on Sunday, the DPJ confidently predicted: "Today, a government change."

"A courageous decision by the people will open the door for a historic and major event," it said in a separate statement. "Please join in this big task to change Japan and protect the people's lives."

The LDP has ruled for all but 10 months since it was founded in 1955, but the DPJ already controls the less powerful upper house of parliament following elections in 2007.

'Hope tomorrow'

In its own advertisements, the LDP urged voters: "Don't destroy Japan".

"Hope tomorrow can only come from stability today," it said.

Al Jazeera's Steve Chao, reporting from Tokyo, said that last-minute surveys indicated that the opposition was still on its way to a landslide victory.

"There is still a great deal of dissatisfaction among the public with the ruling government and its ability to govern the country."The economy is in the worst state since the second world war, unemployment is at 5.7 per cent, which means that three and a half million people are unemployed.

"The opposition has been [conducting] on an Obama-style campaign, promising massive changes, to take on the heavy bureaucracy created by the ruling government that is largely blamed for the problems of the country."

Surveys in major newspapers, including the Mainichi and the Asahi, said that the DPJ was likely to win more than 320 seats in the 480-member lower house of parliament.

Hatoyama travelled to the city of Sakai in western Japan on Saturday - the final day of campaigning - where he repeated his call for voters to support change.

"This is an election to choose whether voters can muster the courage to do away with the old politics," he said.

Cash handouts

Under a mantra of "Putting People's Lives First", the DPJ has offered a platform heavy on social-welfare initiatives, including cash handouts for job seekers in training and families with children.

Our correspondent said that Aso had also come out strongly on Saturday, making a his last-minute appeal to urge voters "to reconsider and to question whether they could trust the opposition to run the government at a time of economic crisis.

"He has also stressed that he needs more time to implement the massive economic reforms to deal with the global financial crisis.

"Japan is the world's second largest economy and that's why it matters a lot, not only to the voters down here but to the rest of the world because what happen world because what happens in Japan is often a bellwether for the health of the world’s financial status."

Iraqi Shia leader buried in Najaf

Thousands of mourners in Iraq's holy Shia city of Najaf have paid their final respects to one of the country's most powerful leaders.

Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, the leader of the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq, was buried in Najaf on Saturday, three days after his death of lung cancer in a Tehran hospital.

Al-Hakim's son and potential successor, Ammar, read out portions of the Iraqi political leader's will, in which he called for coexistence among Iraq's fractured sects.

He also warned that loyalists to Saddam Hussein, the executed former Iraqi leader, and Sunni extremists, were trying to target national unity in the country, The Associated Press news agency reported.

"They see that the only way to achieve their victory is by creating sedition between Iraqi Shias and Sunnis," al-Hakim wrote.

Mourning tour

Saturday's ceremony and the arrival of the casket in Najaf marked the end of a three-day mourning tour that started in Iran and went on to Baghdad and other parts of Iraq's predominately Shia areas.

In depth

Obituary: Abdul Aziz al-Hakim Video: Rift appears among Iraq Shia

Wailing crowds touched the Shia leader's coffin as it was carried through Baghdad amid tight security following an official ceremony on Friday. Al-Hakim was a power broker who helped pave the path for the re-emergence of Iraq's Shia political majority after decades of oppression under Saddam Hussein's Sunni-dominated government.

Although he was seen as the Iraqi politician with the closest ties to Iran, where he lived in exile for 20 years, he also managed to build a rapport with the build a rapport with the US.

But his death has sparked fears of political instability ahead of national polls that many fear may be marred by violence.

Bombing attacks

His burial followed two bomb attacks in northern Iraq that killed at least 15 people and wounded more than 30 others.

In one attack on Saturday, a suicide car bomber killed at least nine people and wounded 11 others at a police station in the town of Shirqat, 300km north of Baghdad, in Salahuddin province.

The other bombing killed six people and wounded 20 others in the town of Sinjar, 390km northwest of Baghdad, which is home to Yazidis, members of a pre-Islamic Kurdish sect.

A surge in violence in the past two months has raised doubts about the durability of security gains, including lorry bombings that killed almost 100 people at government ministries on August 19.

Pressure grows on Gordon Brown over Libya trade talks

The pressure on Gordon Brown over the UK's dealings with Libya has intensified after Colonel Muammar Gaddafi's son said there was an "obvious" link between their trade talks and efforts to release the man convicted of the Lockerbie bombing.

The Tory leader, David Cameron, led a chorus of opposition complaints after Saif Gaddafi said it was "not a secret" that Libya's oil and trade talks with the UK were linked to its efforts to get Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, jailed in 2001 for planting the bomb that killed 270 people, returned to Libya.

The Tories, Liberal Democrats and senior SNP MPs said Brown now had to disclose all the details about ministerial meetings and dealings with the Libyan regime before Megrahi was released last week by the Scottish government.

Saif Gaddafi attempted to dampen down the row by insisting that the prisoner transfer agreement signed by Tony Blair in 2007 ultimately had no bearing on the decision by Scottish ministers to free Megrahi, who is close to death with prostate cancer, on compassionate grounds.

The prisoner transfer agreement (PTA) "was one animal and the other was the compassionate release," he told the Herald newspaper. "They are two completely different animals. The Scottish authorities rejected the PTA. It did not work at all, therefore it was meaningless. He was released for completely different reasons."

Gaddafi added, however, that although Megrahi was never mentioned by name when the trade deals and prisoner transfer deal were being negotiated, "it was obvious we were talking about him. We all knew that was what we were talking about. People should not get angry because we were talking about commerce or oil. We signed an oil deal at the same time. The commerce and politics and deals were all with the PTA."

Even so, Gaddafi said there was "zero link" between Megrahi and his meeting with the business secretary, Lord Mandelson, in Corfu. But Cameron suggested the clear association between the prisoner transfer agreement and trade deals raised questions about the ethics of ministers.

The Tories would table parliamentary questions pressing for answers when Westminster returns from the recess, Cameron said. "The real questions remain unanswered. To begin with, what dealings has his government had with that of Libya on this issue?"

"And most importantly of all, what is Gordon Brown's opinion of the decision to return Mr al-Megrahi on compassionate grounds? I have made my view clear. I think it was wrong. I see no justice in affording mercy to someone who showed no mercy to his victims."

The BBC released a poll showing 60% of Scots opposed Megrahi's release on compassionate grounds and 74% believed it had damaged Scotland's reputation. The same BBC poll said 68% of Scots also thought it had harmed Brown's standing.

Scottish government officials in Edinburgh said neither the first minister, Alex Salmond, nor his industry ministers had had discussions about Libyan oil deals with any Scottish businesses, Libyan officials or ministers before Megrahi was freed.

The SNP sought to deflect criticism by supporting Cameron's demands for greater transparency by UK ministers. Angus Robertson, the SNP leader at Westm2C the SNP leader at Westminster, said Salmond had been furious the UK government had signed the PTA without his agreement, knowing it had no power to influence Scottish ministers or judges. "The SNP spoke out against Tony Blair's deal in the desert when it was first struck, but the UK denied that Megrahi was the target and refused to exclude him from the agreement," Robertson said.

"The UK government's negotiation of a prisoner transfer agreement and meetings between the UK government and Libya remain shrouded in secrecy. It is time for the UK to open up on Blair and Brown's dealings with Colonel Gaddafi."

Saif Gaddafi also tried to play down the controversy over last Thursday's celebrations at Tripoli airport, when Megrahi was greeted by him and a saltire-waving Libyan crowd. He insisted it was not an official celebration but a spontaneous display organised by Megrahi's large extended family and ordinary Libyans.

The Libyan government had planned to keep it low-key, but Megrahi's heavily televised release from Greenock prison and transfer to Glasgow airport had made his arrival home much more public.

"There was no official celebration, no guards of honour, no fireworks and no parade," he said. "We could have arranged a much better reception."

He denied speculation that Megrahi would be guest of honour at next week's 40th anniversary celebrations of his father's seizing power.

He added: "The decision by Scotland was not influenced by any of these things. I think the Scottish justice secretary is a great man. He made the right decision.

"So many of us think that, including so many of the relatives of the victims, because Mr Megrahi is innocent. One day, history will prove this."

from:http://www.guardian.co.uk

Dalai Lama Consoling Taiwan Storm Victims May Hurt China Ties

(Bloomberg) -- The Dalai Lama arrives in Taiwan tonight to console survivors of the island’s deadliest storm in half a century, a five-day stay that may endanger efforts by President Ma Ying-jeou to widen ties with mainland China.

Ma agreed to the visit, organized by opposition politicians, as his popularity declined after the government’s slow response this month to the devastation caused by Typhoon Morakot.

China views the Dalai Lama, a rallying figure for Tibetan independence supporters, as a divisive force and has reacted angrily toward countries that host him. Relations across the Taiwan Strait have thawed under Ma, leading to agreements on investment and travel.

“Ma doesn’t really have a choice but to let the Dalai Lama come as this is his chance to win support from constituents in the south, worst hit by the typhoon,” said Yang Tai-shuenn, a political scientist at Chinese Culture University in Taipei. “Of course China won’t like it. But Ma can try to amend relations by further relaxing restrictions on cross-strait investments and other economic agendas.”

Morakot pummeled Taiwan Aug. 6-9, dumping the most rain ever recorded in any 48-hour span, according to the Central Weather Bureau. The storm killed at least 543 people, causing floods and landslides, burying villages and destroying roads and bridges throughout the south.

Too Little, Too Late

Survivors say rescue efforts were too slow after the government initially rejected offers of assistance from countries including the U.S. and Israel. A TVBS opinion poll on Aug. 12 showed 47 percent disapproved of Ma’s rescue efforts, while 51 percent disapproved of Premier Liu Chao-shiuan. In southern Taiwan, Ma’s disapproval rate rose to 51 percent, the survey showed.

Letting the Dalai Lama visit is a “calculated decision” by Ma “to secure more votes from the south” in December’s local elections, said Andrew Yang, secretary-general of Taiwan’s Chinese Council for Advanced Policy Studies in Taipei. Ma’s ruling Kuomintang party “may suffer a defeat if he doesn’t allow the visit,” Yang added

The Nobel Peace Prize winner has visited Taiwan at least twice, in 1997 and 2001, the Foreign Ministry in Taipei said.

Ma, who in December ruled out a visit by the Tibetan leader, saying the timing wasn’t appropriate, has no plans to meet him, according to Presidential Office spokesman Wang Yu- chi. “We have made no arrangement” for such a meeting, Wang said by telephone yesterday.

Prayer & Comfort

The main purpose of the Dalai Lama’s visit is to offer prayers and provide comfort to people affected by the typhoon, Tenzin Takhla, a spokesman, said on Aug. 27 from Dharamshala, northern India, where the Tibetan government-in-exile is based.

Ties with China won’t be harmed by the visit, Wang said the same day.

China “resolutely opposes” such a visit, its official Xinhua news agency reported after Wang spoke.

“Under the pretext of religion, he has all along been engaged in separatist activities,” Xinhua reported that day, citing a spokesman for the Taiwan Affairs Office it didn’t name. “The Dalai Lama is not a pure religious figure.”

The Dalai Lama fled Tibet after a failed rebellion against Chinese forces in 1959. He accuses the government in Beijing of committing “cultural genocide” there and says mass migration of ethnic Han Chinese has made Tibetans a minority in their own land. China says it peacefully liberated Tibet and saved its people from serfdom.

Economic Diplomacy

Ma wants closer ties with China, the island’s biggest trading partner, to revive an economy that slid into a recession in the fourth quarter of last year. Gross domestic product contracted 7.54 percent in the second quarter of 2009, after declining a revised 10.13 percent three months earlier, the government said this month.

Taiwan and China have been ruled separately since Chiang Kai-shek’s Kuomintang, or Nationalists, fled to the island after being defeated by Mao Zedong’s Communists in 1949. China regards Taiwan as part of its territory and has threatened to use force to reclaim it.

Ma abandoned his predecessor’s pro-independence stance after taking over the presidency in May 2008. Direct flights, shipping and postal services across the Taiwan Strait resumed in December, ending a six-decade ban. In June, Taiwan opened 100 industries and projects to Chinese investments.

“Whatever Ma does, he has to make sure he isn’t endorsing Tibet’s political agenda,” Yang said.

Zuma Holds Talks with Both Mugabe, Tsvangirai to Break Deadlock

South African President Jacob Zuma tours the Harare Agriculture Show in Harare, Zimbabwe, 28 Aug 2009

By Peta Thornycroft
Harare
Zimbabwe's two main political leaders, President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai had talks with outgoing South African Development Community (SADC) chairman and President of South Africa Jacob Zuma into the early hours of Friday morning. Mr. Zuma came to Harare to try and unblock outstanding issues from the political agreement which is nearly a year old and which brought the unity government in Zimbabwe to power in February.

Mr. Zuma has had one-on-one talks with both Mr. Mugabe and Mr. Tsvangirai and then with both of them together since he arrived in Harare late Thursday.

Mr. Zuma seemed confident that outstanding political roadblocks to fulfillment of the political agreement could be solved.

Mr. Mugabe and his closest lieutenants have told Mr. Zuma that existing European Union and U.S. visa and business restrictions against the top ZANU-PF leadership, were an outstanding issue from the political agreement. Mr. Mugabe blames these restrictions for Zimbabwe's economic problems.

"Those very countries who have hitherto imposed sanctions on us still maintain these illegal punitive measures in spite of the progress we have made as an inclusive government. One is tempted to conclude, your Excellency, that regime change on the part of our detractors is still an active policy option," he said.

After the talks between the three political leaders, Mr. Zuma opened the Harare Agricultural Show and in his speech mentioned the work done by Movement for Democratic Change finance minister Tendai Biti, who he said had ensured an end to hyper inflation by introducing multi currencies in to the economy at the beginning of the inclusive government.

He said Zimbabwe's economy had been built on agriculture and that it had been the bread basket of the region and he hoped the sector would recover soon.

He also spoke about the need for Zimbabwe to resolve the outstanding issues in the political agreement.

"We appeal to the international commnity to remove any remaining hindrances to Zimbabwe's economic recoverery including sanctions and at the same time we also emphasize that the parties in Zimbabwe should work together to remove any remaining obstacles to implementation of the agreement," said Mr. Zuma.

Political sources say that Mr. Tsvangirai has an easier relationship with Mr. Zuma than his predecessor, former South African President Thabo Mbeki, who was the facilitator of the political agreement on behalf of SADC.

Mr. Tsvangirai's colleagues say Mr. Zuma's approach and conduct in the talks which have now ended was "very fair."

In the talks, Mr. Tsvangirai highlighted that Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) provincial governors have not been sworn in, nor has his deputy agriculture mi his deputy agriculture minister, Roy Bennett, and senior civil servants in key positions were appointed by Mr. Mugabe after the political agreement was signed in Harare in September of last year.

Next week, an MDC political source said, will be a crucial test for the inclusive government as SADC is holding a summit in Kinshasa and the chairmanship passes from Mr. Zuma to Democratic Republic of Congo President Joseph Kabila.

Also on the agenda at the summit, is a ruling against Mr. Mugabe, accusing him of contempt of the regional group's tribunal last year, which ordered him to leave the few remaining white farmers in peace.

Mr. Zuma toured the Harare Agricultural Show before opening it Friday.

MP wants more Afghanistan troops

Commanders have asked for extra troops for two years, says Mr Mercer

Sending more UK troops to Afghanistan could save lives, Conservative MP Patrick Mercer has said.

His comments came after the prime minister announced plans suggesting a greater role for British troops, during a surprise visit to the country.

Mr Mercer, a former soldier, saw Gordon Brown's announcement as a pledge to send more British personnel.

He said his former regiment was in Afghanistan "and they tell me that the secret to this is extra manpower."

Speaking in Helmand province, Mr Brown pledged greater protection for troops from roadside bombs and better equipment, including more armoured vehicles.

He announced plans for the British to train another 50,000 Afghan troops trained by November 2010, which would enable them to "take more responsibility for their own affairs".

Improvised devices

Mr Mercer said: "For at least the last two years, commanders on the ground have been asking for extra troops. That was denied by the government.

"I don't quite know why Gordon Brown only now is announcing this.

"With the extra manpower that is now being promised, perhaps so many lives wouldn't have been lost over the last few months."

The BBC's deputy political editor, James Landale, who was in Helmand with the prime minister, said training that number of Afghans so quickly could require an increase in the number of British troops.

There are currently 9,000 UK troops in the country, mostly in Helmand.

Mr Brown said another 200 soldiers skilled in countering improvised explosive devices (IEDs) would be deployed in the autumn.

There would also be more unmanned surveillance aircraft, he said.

The latest death in Afghanistan - a Royal Marine killed on foot patrol in Helmand early on Saturday morning - was announced as the prime minister was flying home.

He is the 208th member of the UK forces to have died in Afghanistan since 2001.