Afghanistan - Taleban are tactically defeated in Helmand

The BBC reports.

The Taleban are tactically defeated in Helmand, the commander of the UK forces in Afghanistan has said.

Brigadier Ed Butler told the BBC that Nato had inflicted significant casualties on the Taleban who had failed to remove them from the south.

"We have killed a considerable number of their mid-level and high level commanders," he said.

And a secret deal has brought a halt to violence in Musa Qala, a district which had seen intense fighting, he added.