* Foreign Office minister says more helicopters needed * Minister denies out of step with government view * Finance minister says has funded all army requests (Adds statement from Malloch-Brown) LONDON, July 22 (Reuters) - A British government minister, stepping into one of the most contentious issues in Britain's combat role in Afghanistan, said on Wednesday that British soldiers needed more helicopters to support the effort there. But he denied he was criticising the government over how troops are equipped to operate against the Taliban in Afghanistan. British forces are suffering one of their bloodiest months in the conflict as they take part in an offensive in southern Afghanistan's Helmand province against the Taliban. "We definitely don't have enough helicopters," said Foreign Office minister Mark Malloch-Brown, a former United Nations deputy secretary-general, who stands down from the government at the end of the month. "When you have these modern operations and insurgent strikes what you need, above all else, is mobility," he told the Daily Telegraph in an interview. His comments come after a chorus of complaints that Britain's 9,000 troops in Afghanistan are fighting without proper support. A parliamentary committee said last week that a shortage of helicopters was hurting British operations. Malloch-Brown issued a statement later on Wednesday denying that he was breaking ranks with Prime Minister Gordon Brown. "On the issue of helicopters in Afghanistan, I was making the point -- as the Prime Minister and commanders on the ground have also done -- that while there are without doubt sufficient resources in place for current operations, we should always do what we can to make more available on the frontline," he said. Gaps have emerged between what the government, facing budget constraints, thinks is sufficient and what military commanders say they want. This month, 18 soldiers have been killed, including eight in one day. Most of them were victims of roadside bombs. That has provoked anger about a lack of helicopters that means more units have to travel by road, exposing them to mines, bombs and boobytraps. A Populus poll in the Times newspaper found that two-thirds of the 1,500 people surveyed wanted British troops to be withdrawn either now or within the next year. Brown has insisted there are enough helicopters and armoured equipment to support the force deployed. Chancellor (finance minister) Alastair Darling defended the government's record, saying he had financed all requests for troops and equipment for Afghanistan and was never told by army chiefs it was not enough. "So far as we are concerned the troops are doing a job of work in Helmand province and the army has said this is what we want in terms of troops and equipment and we have provided that and financed it," he told the weekly Tribune Magazine. The United States, Britain and other forces in the NATO-led coalition launched an offensive across southern Afghanistan this month to seize back territory from the Taliban and build security ahead of a presidential election on Aug. 20. (Reporting by Tim Castle and Keith Weir; Editing by Richard Balmforth)
A partial solar eclipse is seen through a razor wire fence on Combat Operation Outpost (COP) McClain in Logar Province in Afghanistan July 22, 2009. REUTERS/Shamil Zhumatov (AFGHANISTAN ENVIRONMENT SOCIETY) ...
