The commander of the British forces returning from Helmand said that his forces were having to make up for the time lost by the decision of the US and UK to invade Iraq instead of concentrating on post-Taliban Afghanistan.
"We could have carried on in 2002 in the same way we have gone about business now," said Brigadier Ed Butler. "Have the interim four years made a difference? I think realistically they have. It doesn't mean that we will not achieve what we set out to do."
Stressing that he was speaking from a strictly UK perspective, and not for the international community, Brigadier Butler added: "So have we slipped back? I don't think we have slipped back, we may have marked time and I think we are starting to make up for that time."
Opium cultivation rose by 59 per cent this year, according to the UN's figures, to an all-time record of 165,000 hectares.
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