LONDON , England ( CNN ) -- British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has defended the UK 's involvement in the war in Afghanistan following the British Army 's bloodiest day of the near eight-year conflict . Soldiers from the Welsh Guards carry the coffin of Maj Sean Birchall , killed on patrol in Afghanistan in June . Addressing lawmakers on Monday , Brown said the security of Afghanistan was crucial to preventing terrorist attacks elsewhere in the world . `` In 2009 the case for our continued involvement is the same : to prevent terrorist attacks in Britain and across the world by dealing with the terrorist threat at its source -- that crucible of terror on the border and mountain areas of Afghanistan and Pakistan , '' Brown told the House of Commons . `` I am confident that we are right to be in Afghanistan , that we have the strongest plan and the resources to do the job . '' Brown also rejected suggestions that British troops , who are fighting alongside other coalition and Afghan forces in Helmand province , are dying unnecessarily because they do not have enough helicopters -- leaving them vunerable to ambush because they have to travel by road . See a map of Helmand province » . `` It 's a sad fact that helicopters would not have saved the lives of the individuals last week , '' he said , citing Lt. Col. Nick Richardson , a British military spokesman in Afghanistan . `` British armed forces are better equipped today than at any time ... in the past 40 years . In the last two years we have increased helicopter numbers by 60 percent and ... capacity by 84 percent . '' But opposition leader David Cameron argued that helicopter capacity in Afghanistan has not risen as fast as troop levels . `` Is n't the real point this , that the number of troops has doubled since 2006 , so proportionally there has n't really been in increase in helicopter capacity at all ? '' the leader of the Conservative Party demanded . The former chief of the defense staff , Charles Guthrie , `` has said more helicopters would save lives , '' Cameron said . The United Kingdom has been shocked by the deaths of 15 troops in 10 days , including eight in a 24-hour period . Watch profiles of six British soldiers killled in Afghanistan on the same day » . The eight dead are the largest number of British troops killed in a single day since the Falklands war between the UK and Argentina in 1982 . Watch a gallery of Britain mourning its fallen in Afghanistan » . `` If we can not move our forces by air , they are more vulnerable on the ground , '' Conservative defense spokesman Liam Fox said Monday , asking if the Labour government had made a mistake by cutting the helicopter budget in 2004 . Defense Secretary Bob Ainsworth dismissed the criticism . British forces are `` taking on the Taliban in one of their heartland areas , '' he told lawmakers . `` That kind of `` hand-to-hand fighting ... can not be conducted from inside a highly armored vehicle and it can not be conducted from a helicopter . '' Ainsworth said more helicopters were on the way , but that many operations `` can not be conducted from helicopters . '' On Monday the Stop the War Coalition , which has campaigned against British involvement in Afghanistan and Iraq , urged Brown to withdraw all British troops from Afghanistan , calling the conflict `` an unwinnable and unjustified war . '' `` We urge the British government to end now this futile war which , if continued , will only mean more wasted lives of British soldiers , countless deaths of Afghan civilians and further devastation of a country that has suffered from decades of war and occupation , '' the group said in a statement .
Gordon Brown : Afghanistan is crucial to preventing terror attacks . Brown rejects charge UK troops killed because of lack of helicopters . UK shocked by deaths of 15 troops in two days and 8 in one day . British forces have joined with Afghan , Afghan troops in fighting in Afghanistan .