Allies warn Taliban of bleak winter

Lieutenant General James Bucknall said it was essential the international coalition, Isaf, was able to maintain momentum into the winter months when the tempo of fighting in usually Afghanistan drops.

Speaking from Kabul using a video link to reporters in London, Gen Bucknall said that while important security gains had been made in 2010, they were not yet "irreversible".

He warned that the coalition faced a "tough fight" in the coming year as it sought to consolidate and extend the "progress" that had been made.

Gen Bucknall said the US troop surge meant Isaf now had the resources to go after insurgents in their retreats in central Afghanistan, northern Helmand and Daykondi where they normally sit out the harsh Afghan winter.

"We have got to deny the insurgents the traditional safe havens which they have harboured in during the winter months," he said.

"Very often we have lacked the reach and the legs and the resources to go after them in those areas.

"I think we can expect a mixture of conventional and special forces operations to continue to disrupt the insurgents in those areas in the winter months."

Gen Bucknall stressed that while he believed that Isaf was now on the "right track", there was still plenty of work to be done.

"But while that progress is tangible it remains at this stage fragile and it is certainly not irreversible. I think we must expect 2011 to be a tough fight."