UK PM visits Afghanistan

British Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, has met Afghan President, Hamid Karzai, on a surprise visit aimed at healing recent divisions.

Brown visited troops in the volatile part of southern Afghanistan on Sunday, where thousands more coalition forces are to be deployed.

Nearly 10,000 British troops are stationed in southern Afghanistan, mostly in Helmand province.

Brown described troop morale as "exceptionally high", but stressed the next few months would be "critical".

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said, "I know that this has been a difficult year and I know we have taken a lot of casualties. I find that the morale of the troops is exceptionally high and one of the reasons that we are more confident about the way ahead is that first of all more troops are coming in, more American troops, more British troops, and secondly the equipment is of a higher standard than ever before."

Britain's Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, wears a helmet and  body armour as he leaves 'Little Heathrow' at Kandahar Airbase  on Sunday Dec. 13, 2009 in Kandahar, Afghanistan, accompanied  by an unidentified officer. (AP Photo/Matt Cardy, Pool)

Brown met with President Karzai and members of his administration on Sunday at an air field in neighboring Kandahar.

Brown pledged to ship helicopters, equipment and roadside bomb surveillance devices. He also announced the deployment of 500 more British troops to Afghanistan.

The British Prime Minister's overnight stay at the Kandahar air base was the first time either he or his predecessor Tony Blair had spent the night in the war zone. For security reasons, Brown's pre-holiday visit was not officially announced until Sunday.