There are greater numbers of Taliban rebels in southern Afghanistan than expected by the newly deployed British military, a senior commander said on Tuesday.
British troops are however still more than a match for the militants as seen in clashes earlier this month, the commander told reporters at a British base in Lashkar Gah, the provincial capital of Helmand province.
The British commander, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the military had underestimated the strength of the hardline Islamic Taliban when it drew up plans to deploy in the restive southern region 16 months ago.
Now that 3,300 soldiers are assembling in Helmand, where they are taking over control of security from the US military, they are beginning to see a different picture.
"I suppose the most significant difference has been the extent to which the Taliban have had some successes this year and are probably in slightly greater numbers then we might have expected after the excellent work done by our American predecessors," the commander said.
Quizzed on what he meant by the larger presence, the commander said he was talking about hundreds not thousands of rebels.
Also they had shown their determination with a series of suicide bombings over the winter months -- a period when militants normally go to ground.
"It is an indication of the boldness and the resilience of the organization because ... they will stay and fight," he said.
The commander noted, however, that the level of Taliban activity was only the same as for the latter half of last year.
They "haven't come out hugely more than they were last year and they haven't come out 10 foot tall either," he said.
British troops, under the umbrella of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force, are due to take over control of security in the whole of Helmand by the end of July.
They have already pushed faster and deeper than expected into the north of the province since the start of June.
In that time, the force has had three significant clashes with militants, losing one British soldier with dozens of rebels killed.
"Our recent events here have demonstrated how, with the right sort of focus, we can definitely overmatch the Taliban and we can do it in a clever and surgical way," the commander said.
The extremist Taliban were toppled from government by a coalition led by the US in late 2001. The movement's insurgency has become more powerful each year since then.
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