Taliban tougher than expected, says UK general

London, Sep 23: The Taliban is proving to be a more difficult adversary for British troops in Afghanistan than they expected, the head of Britain's army told the BBC today.

British forces have been engaged in fierce combat in recent weeks as the country faces its bloodiest violence since the Taliban government was removed in 2001, notably in the Sangin area of Helmand province in the south.

''It has proved to be a more dangerous and difficult job than we had anticipated,'' General Sir Richard Dannatt, chief of the general staff, told BBC radio.

''The Taliban have been more resilient than we had anticipated and sadly we've had to kill more of them and their supporters than we would have wished to have done.

''But it is a fact we have won every tactical engagement over the last two or three months against the Taliban.'' General Dannatt, who recently returned from Afghanistan, said he was saddened that a middle-ranking officer serving in Helmand, in a leaked e-mail, described air force pilots there as ''utterly, utterly useless'' and said more troops were needed.

''If the odd person has had a disappointment in that the air strike they've called in has identified the wrong target, then that is understandable in the fog of war.

''But it is unfortunate a member of the team has seen fit in a private e-mail to criticise other members of team -- we don't need that.'' There are more than 5,000 British troops in Afghanistan as part of a 20,000-strong NATO force charged with providing security to bolster reconstruction and economic development.

Reuters