LONDON — Britain buried its highest-ranking army officer to die in combat in nearly three decades Thursday amid a growing public and political outcry over the presence and preparedness of the country's troops in Afghanistan.
Lawmakers and ordinary people are angrily questioning whether a lack of helicopters and other equipment have been at least indirectly responsible for a recent wave of combat deaths in Afghanistan, where Britain's deployment of 9,000 soldiers to fight the Taliban has become increasingly unpopular here at home.
Last week, eight British troops were killed over a 24-hour period. And on Thursday, mourners crowded into a London military chapel for an emotional farewell to Lt. Col. Rupert Thorneloe, 39, who was killed by a roadside bomb.
Also on Thursday, a parliamentary committee added fuel to the fire by releasing a report that said British military operations and troop safety in Afghanistan were being compromised by a shortage of choppers.
The report said that soldiers were often forced to rely on ground instead of air transport, which put them at greater risk of the roadside explosive devices that have proved to be the Taliban's deadliest weapon.
The conflict in Afghanistan has quickly turned into a toxic issue for Prime Minister Gordon Brown, whose ruling Labor Party is already at painfully low levels in the polls. Appearing before senior lawmakers just a few miles away from the concurrent memorial service for Thorneloe, Brown defended his government's handling of the war, insisting that British troops were of sufficient strength and had what they needed to get the job done.
"The troops that are necessary for the mission we are engaged in now are there," Brown said. "We have spent the right sums of money and are prepared to do more to make sure that our troops are properly equipped."
He declined to reveal, "on security grounds," exactly how many helicopters were deployed in Afghanistan, saying only that the number had increased by 60% in a little over two years.
The issue of helicopters has become the focus of complaints over the prosecution of the Afghanistan war since it emerged that the head of the British army, Gen. Richard Dannatt, had to be flown around this week in an American chopper during a visit because British helicopters were unavailable.
