BRITISH troops in southern Afghanistan are fighting in conditions that sometimes go “beyond the bounds of stamina and endurance”, Des Browne, the Defence Secretary, admitted yesterday.

With so much of the British operation taken up with fighting the Taleban in Helmand province in the south, there had also been little time for reconstruction efforts, Mr Browne said.

“We do have to accept that it has been even harder than we expected: the Taleban’s tenacity has been a surprise, absorbing more of our effort than we predicted it would and consequently slowing progress on reconstruction,” Mr Browne said in a speech to the Royal United Services Institute in London.

The admissions from the Defence Secretary follow similar acknowledgements from military commanders on the ground, who have been taken aback by the persistence of the Taleban. Thirty-three British personnel have been killed since June.

Mr Browne said there were signs that the Taleban were tiring. “Local leaders in some areas are showing signs of wanting to reach an accommodation to limit or indeed to stop the fighting,” he said.

He paid tribute to the soldiers who were engaged in “terrible and dangerous work”. He said they were fighting “incredibly hard”, adding: “They are working in arduous conditions, around the clock, up to and sometimes beyond the bounds of stamina and endurance.”

Mr Browne rejected reports that the troops were ill-equipped. “The public rightly are concerned they are getting the right support, but do not demean their effort by thinking that they have not been properly supported,” he said.

“I am expending every effort to ensure they get the equipment they need, even if it means rebalancing some of the overall effort in defence towards the here and now, rather than the challenges of tomorrow,” he said.

He also underlined the Government’s concerns about other Nato countries playing a bigger role in southern Afghanistan. “I know that some of our partners feel that they have done their bit. Some have doubts that the mission will succeed. Others have more direct concerns about the level of risk they are prepared to expose their soldiers to,” he said.

Mr Browne said he could understand their concerns, although he did not name which countries he had in mind. But, with 2,500 more troops now needed in the south, it was vital for Nato to provide the reinforcements and to send a clear signal to the Taleban.

He gave a warning that despite the inroads made against the Taleban there was a hardcore who were “determined to fight to keep their impunity in the south, and possibly to reclaim the whole country”.

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