London  - Britain is to boost the number of troops serving in Afghanistan by around 300 to an overall force of 8,300, Prime Minister Gordon Brown told parliament Monday.

Brown, who paid a flying visit to Afghanistan, Indian and Pakistan over the weekend, confirmed to parliament that the extra troops would be deployed until August on a "temporary basis."

British troops have suffered increasing losses in southern Afghanistan's Helmand province in recent months, where 132 British soldiers have so far died.

Kabul - US President George W Bush was awarded the most prestigious medal by his Afghan counterpart in Kabul, one day after he ducked a pair of shoes launched at him by an Iraqi journalist in Baghdad.

Bush made a farewell trip to Iraq Sunday to support the recently signed US-Iraq Status of Forces Agreement, which paves the way for the transfer of full sovereignty to Iraq and the departure of US troops by 2011.

United Nations, Dec. 15 : The United Nations envoy to Afghanistan has strongly condemned a suicide bombing by Taliban, allegedly using a 13-year-old boy, against British forces in the south of the violence-wracked nation.

The attack, which killed three marines, "again demonstrates the Taliban's total disrespect for human rights," Kai Eide, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General, said in a statement issued on Sunday.

Kabul/Washington  - US President George W Bush arrived in Afghanistan early Monday on a surprise farewell visit, committing the United States to establishing a stable democracy there as violence is on the rise and he prepares to leave office in five weeks.

Bush was to meet Afghan President Hamid Karzai and US troops on his visit, the details of which were shrouded in secrecy as the country and its foreign allies battle a Taliban and al-Qaeda insurgency.

Kabul, Dec. 15 : Two days after British Prime Minister Gordon Brown''s visit to Afghanistan, US President George W Bush arrived in Kabul on a surprise visit to address American troops at the Bagram Air Force base and for talks with his Afghan counterpart, President Hamid Karzai.

Bush flew into Afghanistan from Iraq, where a news conference was disrupted when an Iraqi TV journalist threw his shoes and shouted insults at him.