Prime Minister Julia Gillard has been questioned about extra resources for Australian troops while on a surprise visit to Afghanistan.

Ms Gillard is on her way to Brussels for a meeting of leaders from Europe and Asia, but first she stopped off to meet Australian troops stationed at Tarin Kowt.

Ms Gillard was briefed on the war by Australian and United States commanders.

While mingling with the soldiers, she was asked if she was planning to send more troops and equipment.

Troop numbers in Afghanistan have become a major issue in recent weeks following the publication of an email from a frontline soldier who argues Australian forces are under-resourced.

"If we get further advice you need stuff, we'll certainly respond to it," she said.

"We review continuously and as soon as we get any recommendations we certainly deal with them urgently and don't let them delay.

"So if we got a recommendation from the CDF [Chief of the Defence Force] into our national security committee that you need something, we would deal with that immediately."

Ms Gillard says she is proud of how Australian troops are performing.

"I anticipated when I came here... that I was going to be impressed and I certainly am. We are proud of our people, they get a great job done," she said.

She shared a meal and watched part of the AFL Grand final.

"Well done to Collingwood and all the Collingwood supporters in the crowd," she said.

Ms Gillard also visited Kabul to meet with the Afghan president Hamid Karzai.

The Europe leg of her international tour - her first overseas trip as Prime Minister - involves meetings with football's governing body FIFA in Zurich where she will lobby for Australia's bid to host the World Cup.

Ms Gillard will spend three days in Brussels attending the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM), a gathering of 16 Asian leaders and the 27 members of the European Union.

She will become the first Australian Prime Minister to have attended the meeting.

ASEM is the first of four overseas summits she will attend in the coming weeks.

Meanwhile, Opposition Leader Tony Abbott is also overseas this weekend.

Mr Abbott left for the United Kingdom on Friday night to meet the British prime minister and other senior ministers.