Strength of Taliban was underestimated
Dawn
The Taliban's resistance against British troops in Afghanistan has been stronger than expected, a British commander said on Wednesday, but he said his forces were equal to the challenge.
Maj-Gen Peter Wall, deputy chief of joint operations, spoke a day after Taliban fighters killed two British soldiers in Helmand province.
"It's certainly so that yesterday we had a bad day - two brave men were killed in action - but I think the Taliban had a worse day," Maj-Gen Wall said in an interview with the BBC radio.
Britain has 3,300 troops in Afghanistan, working with the country's national army.
"Notwithstanding yesterday's tragic losses, the force that we have has demonstrated it is more than equal to the task," Maj-Gen Wall said.
"I don't accept we are involved in mission-creep. I do think that we should have expected a reaction from the Taliban - perhaps it has been a little bit more virulent than we had hoped," Maj-Gen Wall said. Link
db: Caught the end of a Sky News piece on Afghanistan last night. They had an 'expert' in the studio who suggested that the British have been presented with a 'choice' - between Afghanistan and Iraq - and that in his view the Brits should redeploy troops to Afghanistan - because it is a more 'popular' war with the public. Frying pans and fires come to mind. The reality is that the Brits are currently asleep regarding Afghanistan - 'popular' the war is not.
The Taliban's resistance against British troops in Afghanistan has been stronger than expected, a British commander said on Wednesday, but he said his forces were equal to the challenge.
Maj-Gen Peter Wall, deputy chief of joint operations, spoke a day after Taliban fighters killed two British soldiers in Helmand province.
"It's certainly so that yesterday we had a bad day - two brave men were killed in action - but I think the Taliban had a worse day," Maj-Gen Wall said in an interview with the BBC radio.
Britain has 3,300 troops in Afghanistan, working with the country's national army.
"Notwithstanding yesterday's tragic losses, the force that we have has demonstrated it is more than equal to the task," Maj-Gen Wall said.
"I don't accept we are involved in mission-creep. I do think that we should have expected a reaction from the Taliban - perhaps it has been a little bit more virulent than we had hoped," Maj-Gen Wall said. Link
db: Caught the end of a Sky News piece on Afghanistan last night. They had an 'expert' in the studio who suggested that the British have been presented with a 'choice' - between Afghanistan and Iraq - and that in his view the Brits should redeploy troops to Afghanistan - because it is a more 'popular' war with the public. Frying pans and fires come to mind. The reality is that the Brits are currently asleep regarding Afghanistan - 'popular' the war is not.
posted by exoplanet at 2:20 PM
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