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Britain's current level of 8,000 troops in Afghanistan is the "absolute ceiling", an unnamed military official told The Times of London. The United States, meanwhile, is planning to send 3,500 additional troops to Afghanistan to help NATO forces face an increasing challenge from Islamist militants.

The report comes as a surprise to some military observers who expected that when Britain cut back its current 4,000-soldier presence in Iraq to nearly nothing next year that at least some of them would be used to power a "mini-surge" in Afghanistan's troubled Helmand province, The Times said.

But, The Times reported, it is now agreed that there will be no transfer of forces from one campaign to the other.

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