1//BBC News, UK Monday, 12 December 2005, 17:53 GMT
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4521318.stmNATO IN A SPIN OVER AFGHAN EXPANSION
Andrew North in Kabul
The size and mission of the British military force due to be sent to southern Afghanistan next year as part of Nato plans to expand its peacekeeping operations are being scaled back, the BBC has learned.
The move comes amid continuing uncertainty over the commitment of other European alliance members to the plan for Nato to take over responsibility from the US for the more dangerous south and east, the heartland of the four-year-old Taleban-led insurgency.
Last week, the Dutch government again postponed a decision on sending 1,100 troops to the volatile southern province of Uruzgan, amid domestic concerns about casualties.
For similar reasons, the UK government is now considering sending only about 1,000 combat troops to the equally challenging province of Helmand, well-placed sources have told the BBC.
That is about half the number originally discussed.
The government may also shelve plans to deploy Apache attack helicopters to support them.
'Number one priority'
Part of the problem, the BBC was told, is that the government "has still not decided what it wants the military to do in Helmand".
However, according to these sources, proposals for British units to hunt drug traffickers in Helmand - Afghanistan's number one opium producing region - have now been abandoned.
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