Britain will tomorrow announce its long-awaited plans for an expanded NATO mission in Afghanistan, expected to include 3,000-4,000 new troops.
Secretary of Defence John Reid told parliament today he had not made his final decision about the deployment, but would make an announcement after consulting cabinet colleagues over the next 24 hours.
However the Ministry of Defence confirmed that about 3,000 troops from the 16th Air Assault Brigade had been training on Salisbury Plain in southern England this week "for a possible deployment to Afghanistan".
Mr Reid is to visit them on Friday, the day after his announcement to parliament about deployment plans.
Britain has already committed itself to sending a headquarters contingent of about 900 troops to join about 1,000 it has in Afghanistan now, when it takes over command of the NATO peacekeeping force in Afghanistan in May.
A substantially larger NATO force is needed to take over the fighting duties now carried out by 18,000 American troops. Some European countries have been reluctant to commit troops to a mission that will see a greater risk of combat.