David Cameron warned yesterday that the international coalition in Afghanistan was facing a "vital year" as he made his first visit to the country since becoming Prime Minister.
Mr Cameron acknowledged that the public needed to see "real and noticeable and marked" progress in the coming months if they were to continue to support the mission.
Following talks with President Hamid Karzai in the capital, Kabul, he promised that his new government would maintain a "relentless focus" on Britain's own national security interests.
Meanwhile Mr Cameron yesterday was forced to cancel a visit to a forward British military base in Afghanistan amid concerns of a possible Taliban attack.
Aides said a mobile telephone call was intercepted referring to a possible rocket attack on a helicopter. At that stage it was not felt necessary to take any action. However, when a second call was intercepted close to the base in Helmand province which suggested that a VIP was flying in, a decision was taken by military commanders to call off the visit.
The forward operating base was in an area which was previously an insurgent stronghold and which was heavily contested in the recent Operation Moshtarak offensive in central Helmand.
On the other hand Mr Cameron was able to visit an agricultural school near the provincial capital built with £1.2 million of British funding.
He also held talks there with the provincial governor Gulab Mangal.
He announced that he was providing an additional £67 million to counter the threat of deadly roadside bombs - improvised explosive devices (IEDs) - saying ensuring British forces were properly equipped was his "biggest duty" as Prime Minister.
But while he emphasised the need to ensure that al Qaida could not make a return to Afghanistan, he said that he did not want to keep British troops there "a moment longer than is necessary".
The deployment of additional British troops to Afghanistan - on top of the 10,000 already there - was "not remotely on the UK agenda", he added.
With General Stanley McChrystal, the US commander of international forces in Afghanistan, due to deliver his review of President Barack Obama's troop "surge" in December, Mr Cameron said that it was a "vital year" for the coalition.
He echoed US Defence Secretary Robert Gates' warning that their publics at home would not tolerate the "perception of stalemate while we're losing young men".
"This is the year when we have to make progress for the sake of the Afghan people, but also progress on behalf of the people back home who want this to work," he said.
"I think our publics back home want to see real and noticeable and marked progress this year and next. We should all the time be asking: can we go further, can we go faster?
"Nobody wants British troops to be in Afghanistan a moment longer than is necessary."
Mr Cameron said that the international troop surge needed to be accompanied by a "political surge", stepping up efforts by the Afghan government to reintegrate those elements of the Taliban prepared to lay down their arms.
At a joint news conference with Mr Karzai, he said that the goal was still to enable the Afghans to take responsibility for their own security so that international forces could be withdrawn.
His visit came during a particularly bad week for the international coalition. Four US troops were killed on Wednesday when their helicopter was shot down by the Taliban in Helmand as they were reportedly trying to rescue some injured British soldiers.