Brown in aid promise to Afghanistan

The Prime Minister flew into the capital, Kabul, for talks with President Hamid Karzai as the Afghan Defence Ministry was announcing that Musa Qala in Helmand province had been "completely captured" after four days of heavy fighting.

Mr Brown immediately promised to follow up the victory with new reconstruction projects in the area in an attempt to secure the loyalties of the local population and ensure that the town does not fall back into the hands of the Taliban.

"What is happening in Musa Qala is very important in the fight against the Taliban," he told a joint news conference with President Karzai.

"When that action is completed, we will give support for the economic and social development of the area.

"There is no doubt that succeeding in Musa Qala will make a huge difference both to how people see the weakness of the Taliban in the future and the ability of the government to build, not just militarily and politically, but with social and economic progress for the people of the area."

Nato's International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) was more cautious than the Afghan Defence Ministry, simply confirming that international and Afghan troops had entered the outskirts of the main part of the town.

It said that the pace of their advance was limited by the need to minimise the risk of civilian casualties and to ensure that their own troops were not caught by improvised explosive devices - roadside bombs - left by the Taliban.

The capture of Musa Qala, in the centre of Helmand's opium poppy belt, will be seen as hugely important for the international coalition in Afghanistan, particularly the British.

However, Taliban spokesman Qari Yousef Ahmadi said that their fighters had simply made a tactical withdrawal.