Army facing 'most intense fighting in half a century'

BRITISH troops in Afghanistan are engaged in some of the most intense and prolonged fighting seen by the army for half a century, a senior commander said yesterday.

Some UK troops will be withdrawn from parts of the lawless Helmand province to be replaced by soldiers from the Afghan army, Lieutenant-General David Richards, the British commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan, said.

"This sort of thing hasn't really happened so consistently, I don't think, since the Korean War or the Second World War," he said. "It happened for periods in the Falklands, obviously, and it happened for short periods in the Gulf on both occasions. But this is persistent, low-level, dirty fighting."

His comments came as a senior British source said that between 40-50,000 NATO forces would be needed to control Taleban fighters in Helmand.

The number far exceeds the 4,500 UK troops in the region and their NATO allies.

But the source insisted it was never the intention to put international troops in every village in the province, but rather to disrupt Taleban influence and encourage stability in rural areas.

"There is absolutely no way that we can garrison Helmand with 4,500 troops," the source said. "If NATO was going to garrison Helmand and carry out that sort of operation, heaven knows how many troops you would need - 40-50,000. But we wouldn't even think about that."

British forces in Afghanistan - which were recently swelled by 1,000 additions - have been surprised by the strength of the Taleban resistance.

They have found themselves facing guerrilla-style tactics rather than terrorist attacks.

Groups of Taleban fighters, no more than 15 or 20 in number, are attacking international forces in the north of the province over an extended period of time before dispersing and reforming.

British and international forces had expected them to rely on bombings and improvised explosive devices by the side of the road.

"That is the way they have chosen to operate. We are slightly surprised," the source said. "They will have taken higher casualties than they might have expected.

"In some ways, they are playing into our hands. It is unlikely they can sustain this tempo for too long."

Hundreds of Taleban are believed to have died in the conflict, but the army is reluctant to put an exact figure on it.

Ten British soldiers have died in the past two months as a result of hostile action in Afghanistan.