(Adds comments from PM Brown to parliament, paragraphs 9-12) By Luke Baker LONDON, Dec 15 (Reuters) - The cost of British military operations in Afghanistan will rise by 54 percent this year, a parliamentary committee said on Monday, as it called on the government to better justify the expense. According to figures provided by the Treasury, costs will rise to 2.32 billion pounds ($3.5 bln) in 2008/9, from 1.51 billion in 2007/08 as Britain focuses its attention on the worsening Afghan conflict. And despite an intention to withdraw almost all its forces from Iraq in the first half of next year, the cost of Britain's operations in Iraq will fall by just 4.1 percent, parliament's Defence Committee said in a statement. In total, the government is requesting 3.74 billion pounds to meet the cost of operations in Iraq and Afghanistan in 2008/9, which the committee described as a "very significant sum of public money" that needed to be more fully explained. "The reasons for the increases and the magnitude of costs in general are still not transparent enough," said James Arbuthnot, the chairman of the committee. Much of the increase is expected to come from providing more armoured vehicles to the 8,100 troops serving in Afghanistan, where the Taliban has mounted a resurgence in the past six months, detonating roadside bombs and carrying out ambushes. Four British troops have been killed in the past week and more than 130 have died since the conflict began in late 2001, when Britain joined the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan. The government announced in October it would buy 700 more armoured vehicles for frontline troops, largely a response to the Taliban's increasing ability to hit convoys and destroy lightly armed vehicles with powerful roadside bombs. Prime Minister Gordon Brown told parliament on Monday he had authorised an increase in the number of troops deployed to Afghanistan to 8,300, with a large portion of those involved in training the Afghan army and police. Training Afghan security forces is a major part of the NATO and U.S. strategy for gradually handing over responsibility to the Afghans. However, there is still a long way to go before the Afghan army and the subsidiary police force are up to strength. There are currently about 70,000 Afghan soldiers, a figure due to rise eventually to 120,000. But it will take time, with only 1,500 new trainees passing out each month. Brown said he did not even believe 120,000 would be sufficient to keep security in a country of Afghanistan's size and instability. He called on NATO states to do more to contribute troops and equipment to the 52,000-strong stabilisation force in Afghanistan, saying the agreed concept of "burden sharing" needed to be followed to the letter, rather than some nations -- such as Britain -- bearing more of the cost. (Editing by Louise Ireland)
People stand beside burnt military vehicles on the outskirts of Peshawar December 7, 2008. Hordes of Pakistani militants set on fire 96 trucks carrying Humvees and military vehicles for Western forces ...
