I have every confidence in Brigadier Lane

Geoff Hoon

Hailing the operation in south-eastern Afghanistan a "remarkable success", Mr Hoon defended the fact that the only shots had been fired by coalition forces, not British soldiers.

He also said the "winter vomiting" bug that has affected about 25 troops was now under control.

'Deserves support'

Speaking on BBC's Breakfast with Frost programme, Mr Hoon defended Brigadier Lane and the Marines' mission.

Senior Ministry of Defence officials have reportedly claimed that Brigadier Lane has lost the confidence of politicians and others, over disagreements between British and American commanders on tactics being used to hunt down al-Qaeda and Taleban fighters.

Questions have been raised over Lane's tactics against al-Qaeda

One MoD official is reported by The Sunday Telegraph as saying: "Brig Lane is a man out of his depth and should be sacked. The whole operation is quickly becoming a farce."

But Mr Hoon dismissed this as "complete nonsense", saying: "I have every confidence in Brigadier Lane. He is doing a tremendous job in very difficult conditions and he deserves - and gets - our complete support."

British and US troops assisted Australian special forces who came under fire on Thursday in south-eastern Afghanistan from suspected Taleban and al-Qaeda fighters.

'Hyped up'

Mr Hoon said the mission was a "tremendous example" of the Royal Marines' skill in denying territory to the terrorists.

"It is right that we should use whatever force is appropriate to make sure that they can't provide a threat to both the people of Afghanistan and to the wider world."

Geoff Hoon: Hunt for Bin Laden continues

He also denied claims by Labour and Conservative former defence ministers, that the involvement of British soldiers in Afghanistan had been "hyped up".

Labour's Doug Henderson said: "There certainly is a suspicion that ... there is a need to hype up the success of the operation when probably not a lot has been achieved."

While Tory Nicholas Soames accused the government of presenting the operations "as if they were about to embark on D-Day".

Troop reduction

But Mr Hoon told Frost: "I believe that we are setting out very clearly what has happened."

He said the hunt was still on for Osama Bin Laden, adding: "We are determined to find him."

The defence secretary said the 1,500 British troops involved in leading the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) would be reduced in numbers "substantially" once the mission was taken over, probably by Turkey.

He said the 1,700 Royal Marines on offensive missions in the region would not be there "indefinitely", but would move towards an advisory and training role.

"We expect there to be a reduction in our numbers involved in offensive operations, but that depends on what they find, on the level of activity and particularly from requests from allies."