Australia ? Australia plans to nearly double its forces in Afghanistan, Prime Minister John Howard said today, describing the dispatch of 450 soldiers as an attempt to check the swelling Taliban insurgency.

By midyear, the Australian Defense Force will add 400 troops to its contingent of 550 currently in Afghanistan. It will add another 50 by the middle of 2008, bringing the deployment to about 1,000, Howard told reporters.

Howard, a staunch U.S. ally in Iraq and Afghanistan, did not rule out sending more than 1,000 troops if the need arose.

“There is renewed commitment and activity by the Taliban,” he added. “The possibility of Afghanistan once again becoming a bolthole, a safe haven for terrorists is quite real.”

Howard said there had been extensive discussions between the Australian defense chief and his counterparts in the United States, Britain and the Netherlands.

Australia sent troops to Afghanistan as part of the U.S.-led invasion in late 2001 but withdrew all but one land-mine specialist in 2002 as security improved.