British troops fighting Taliban insurgents in southern Afghanistan are on the "brink of exhaustion", The Sunday Telegraph has learnt. Commanders fear that the number of "high tempo" operations being launched against the Taliban is "unsustainable" unless the 3,600-strong task force is reinforced with an extra 1,000-strong infantry battle group. Since May, British troops in Helmand province have fought 25 major battles in which they killed an estimated 700 Taliban.Commanders say the mission has so far been "fantastically successful", but they believe that the relentless number of back-to-back operations being fought in harsh terrain in temperatures of up to 50C is beginning to take its toll. "The men are knackered - they are on the brink of exhaustion," said one senior officer. "They are under considerable duress and have suffered great hardship." Commanders believe that if they slow the momentum of attacks, the Taliban will gain time to regroup and reorganise before winter.
The Sunday Telegraph has also learnt that an interim study of the mission, by Brigadier Mungo Melvin of the Directorate of Operational Capability, has found "shortcomings" in the assessment of the enemy threat. Patrick Mercer, the Conservative spokesman for homeland security, said the Government had a responsibility to reinforce the task force. He said: "Why the Prime Minister is not giving the commanders in Afghanistan the troops they require is completely incomprehensible."