British struggle to hold Taliban

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NEW film footage from Afghanistan has suggested the British Army controls little but isolated pockets in Helmand, the province in the south of the country where the troops are trying to establish stability.

The film, taken by the reporter Sean Langan for Channel 4, shows the extent of the difficulties British troops have faced, with severe shortages of helicopters preventing resupplies and men forced to live off corn cobs foraged from nearby fields.

With its pictures of Afghan troops wounded and dying, it is among the most graphic footage from Afghanistan since British paratroopers arrived last summer.

In Dispatches on Channel 4 tomorrow, British and Afghan troops are shown struggling to regain control of the key town of Garmsir. Langan spent a week with the soldiers in September last year.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-2534996,00.html