Barack Obama Afghan troop announcement 'in a few days', Gordon Brown says

Has Gordon Brown just let the heavily-armed cat out of the White House bag? The Prime Minister appears to have confirmed in the House of Commons that Barack Obama is very soon going to announce more US troops for Afghanistan.

We all know that President Hamlet Obama is taking his time over a possible 30,000 – 40,000 increase in US numbers in Afghanistan. But we don’t know what he’ll announce, or when.

Yet Mr Brown seems to have an idea. In Prime Minister’s Questions, he pointed out that he has OK’d another 500 British troops. He said he wants other Nato countries to send more (yes, I know, sounds familiar, that one).

And then he said: “I have also talked to President Obama and I expect him to announce in a few days what his numbers will be.”

Hmm. I wonder if that statement was part of the White House media grid for Afghanistan?