LONDON, Oct 28: Britain is committing 4,200 men and women from all three armed services to join American forces for operations in Afghanistan, the government announced here on Sunday.

Armed forces Minister Adam Ingram told the House of Commons that the servicemen and women are to be reassigned from the major exercize in Oman which concludes this weekend. “This will enable us to keep a large and balanced force in the region,” the minister said, adding: “It will give us greater flexibility to widen operations in the region.”

Mr Ingram said the “powerful force” was a “concrete demonstration of the British government’s resolve to see the campaign against international terrorism through to the end.”

Most of the fighting element of the force, a company group of 200 from 40 Commando Royal Marines, will be based aboard the Landing Support Ship HMS Fearless, a veteran of the Falklands campaign.

The commandos are to be “on call” to support American and British forces in Afghanistan. These are said to be extreme weather troops and mountain experts. The British armed forces sources say the commandos will be ideal for the extreme weather conditions in Afghanistan.

The commandos have undergone specialised training in sub-zero temperatures in Norway which could be a perfect dress rehearsal for Afghanistan’s mountainous terrain in winter, the sources say.

The main British naval contribution so far has been three submarines, which have fired Tomahawk cruise missiles on two occasions in the Afghan campaign.

The Royal Marines’ Mountain and Arctic Warfare Cadre is also believed to be involved in the operation. There will be a full complement of assault helicopters — specially adapted Chinooks with high velocity machineguns and Sea King transports.

The Minister also announced that an additional four aircraft, Nimrod reconnaissance planes and Hercules C-130 transports, were to be added to the 10 reconnaissance and refuelling planes the UK has deployed already in Operation Veritas — the Britain’s part of the US Operation Enduring Freedom.

It is for the first time after 80 years that the British forces would be taking part in military operations against Afghanistan. The last time the British troops were in action in Afghanistan was in the beginning of the 20th century, in the third Afghan War. The war ended with the British pledging to honour the Afghan sovereignty and the two sides had signed a peace agreement.