Gordon Brown said the more Afghans can take responsibility for security in the short term, the less coalition forces will be needed in the long term.
The PM added that the Government was committed to ensuring that British forces have the resources necessary to do their job in the months ahead.
The speech was delivered at the International Institute for Strategic Studies on Afghanistan.
Paying tribute to the British servicemen who have died in Afghanistan over the last few weeks, Mr Brown said:
"There is nothing more heart-breaking in the job I do than writing to the families of those brave servicemen and women, or meeting them, as I did this morning. Or standing by the bedside of a 19-year-old who may never be able to walk again, as I did earlier this week.
"Each time I have to ask myself if we are doing the right thing by being in Afghanistan. Each time I have to ask myself if we can justify sending our young men and women to fight for this cause… And my answer has always been 'yes'.
"For when the security of our country is at stake we cannot walk away."
Mr Brown said that others must take their fair share of this burden of responsibility as well, saying:
"42 countries are involved - and all must ask themselves if they are doing enough. For terrorism recognises no borders. All of us benefit from defeating terrorism and greater stability in this region - and all members of our coalition must play our proper part."
He said the British strategy is part of a wider international strategy and must be understood in that context, and continued:
"In Afghanistan, the Afghan Army and Police are not yet ready to take on the Taliban by themselves. That is why the international coalition must maintain its military presence.
"I believe that most people in Britain accept this - but I know they are concerned about how long international forces, and British forces in particular, will have to stay.
"And they ask what success in Afghanistan would look like. The answer is that we will have succeeded when our troops are coming home because the Afghans are doing the job themselves."
He said that the right strategy is one that completes the job, which is to enable the Afghans to take over from international forces; and to continue the essential work of denying the territory of Afghanistan as a base for terrorists.
Mr Brown said that ours is a four-pronged strategy for accelerating the Afghanisation of the campaign, with the four prongs being:
- Partnering a growing Afghan Army presence in central Helmand.
- Strengthening the civilian-military partnership, including on policing.
- Supporting the Governor of Helmand by strengthening district government - backed by targeted aid - and a more effective, cleaner government in Kabul.
- Building on the success of the 'wheat not heroin' initiative which he discussed with Governor Mangal - extending it to thousands more farmers.
Expanding on the first he said:
"The numbers of our forces devoted to training and mentoring the Afghans have been increasing, albeit slowly. At national level we have helped train tens of thousands of Afghan troops and thousands more Afghan Police.
"In Helmand, a British battalion has been mentoring an Afghan Army brigade - living, training and fighting alongside them.
"But we must move from simply mentoring the Afghan Army to what we call 'partnering' with them as they take more responsibility for their country's security.
"When we clear an area of Taliban, it is the Afghan Army and Police who must hold that ground and prevent the Taliban from returning."
To achieve this, Mr Brown said a new approach would be required, shifting from mentoring - where small numbers of mentors work with Afghan units - to one of partnering, where the bulk of our combat forces would be dedicated to working side by side with the Afghan Army at all levels: British troops would eat, sleep, live, train, plan and fight together with their Afghan partners to bring security to the population. He added:
"This is the best route to success, the most effective way to transfer skills and responsibility to the Afghan security forces, and the best way to gain the trust of the population - and therefore the most effective way to complete our tasks.
"In principle, every British combat unit could partner a larger Afghan counterpart. By November 2010 we envisage up to a third of our troops partnering Afghan forces. That means that our combat units in Helmand could be ready to partner an Afghan Army Corps of around 10,000 soldiers.
"And to help us achieve this goal we will press the new Afghan president to assign greater numbers of Afghan Army forces to Helmand - where the challenge to legitimate Afghan Government, and to the security of the people, is greatest."
"Our forces were the first in Afghanistan to set up a fully joint military-civilian headquarters in 2008 - a model which the Americans, having seen it in action, are now looking to roll out across the country."
Prime Minister Gordon Brown
On the second part of the strategy, strengthening the security of and support for the local population by the strongest possible civilian-military partnership, including on policing, Mr Brown said:
"Our forces were the first in Afghanistan to set up a fully joint military-civilian headquarters in 2008 - a model which the Americans, having seen it in action, are now looking to roll out across the country. In the 12 months following that we doubled the number of our civilian experts on the ground.
"I saw this joint approach in action in the joint operational co-ordination centre in Lashkar Gah. The police are often on the front line, taking heavier casualties than even the Afghan Army - which is why over 100 of our Armed Forces are currently dedicated to mentoring them, in addition to our civilian police mentors.
"The challenge here is even tougher than the Afghan Army, but there are positive signs, including the success of the focused district development programme, though we need to go further in tackling problems of illiteracy, drug abuse and corruption - and logistical problems like ensuring police are paid adequately and on time, without which progress on tackling corruption will be impossible."
The third part of the strategy is the strengthening of local and district government - which Mr Brown said is a vital part of any counter-insurgency strategy - and of countering the shadow governance of the Taliban.
He said:
"As our policy of Afghanisation and of localisation advances, our stabilistaion experts will work with shuras in more villages and districts in Helmand - and right across Afghanistan I believe priority must be given to the training and mentoring of the 34 provincial governors and almost 400 district governors.
"And I can say today that we are ready to fund and partner the first Afghan district stabilisation teams to be sent down to Helmand - Afghan officials working alongside our military-civilian stabilisation teams; not only reinforcing the hard-won gains of our forces during this most difficult of summers but advancing Afghan responsibility for their own affairs.
"And to ensure this effort has the strongest possible support, I am announcing today that we will provide an extra £20m for stabilisation and security in Helmand - including police training and basic justice - increasing by around 50 per cent what we have provided over the last year."
Regarding the 'wheat not heroin' initiative, which Mr Brown said he believed was the key to the reduction in heroin in Helmand announced earlier this week, he said:
"We will help Governor Mangal to expand this programme next year - and also help set up an agricultural training college. Over time we want to see central Helmand restored to its former position as the 'breadbasket' of Afghanistan."
Concluding his speech, Mr Brown said:
"It remains my judgement that a safer Britain requires a safer Afghanistan, and in Afghanistan last week I was further convinced that, despite the challenges we face, a nation emerging from three decades of violence can be healed and strengthened, and that our country and the whole world can be safer, because together we have the values, the strategy and the resolve to complete our vital task."
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