UK 'underestimated' Taleban fight

That's according to the BBC. That alone should set off alarm bells that this is going to be a hit piece - and it is.

The threat posed by the Taleban in Afghanistan has been underestimated, the defence secretary is to admit.

Des Browne is set to say that the fight against the Taleban has been "even harder than we expected".

Thus the BBC frames the debate. Well, for starters Browne hasn't even spoke yet, so how does the BBC know what he is set to say? Notice the BBC use "admit" as to imply some kind of guilt. And just because something is harder than you expected doesn't mean you underestimated it. Underestimated implies you under prepared. With kill ratios of 50-1 and sometimes 100-1, it's obvious our troops are well prepared.

Then the BBC throw out some numbers and hope you won't notice.

His speech to the Royal United Services Institute comes after 40 UK troops have died in Afghanistan since 2001.

The BBC hopes you'll just keep on reading and not work out that is an average of 8 per year. But hold on. Not all those 40 were from enemy fire, 14 died in an accident recently. And I remember reading several died in traffic accidents. So, the number killed from enemy fire may be around 20. That would work out to about just over 3 per year killed from enemy fire. Yes I know they are all still dead and it's a tragic loss, but context is important here as the BBC want to paint as bleak a picture as possible.

Now, after noting our losses, the BBC seem to reluctant to note the enemy's losses. Imagine that.

Mr Browne will say the Taleban's tenacity in the face of heavy losses has been a surprise.

That has absorbed more effort than predicted and consequently slowed down progress on reconstruction in the country, he will add.

Those losses are in the thousands by now with over 1400 killed this year alone and we've got 3 months left to go. That would make a kill ratio of 1400-5 in our favor.

So, the "Tableban's tenacity" is the great unexpected here. Fat load of good it's doing them. It's solwed progress but it hasn't stopped it. With kill ratios like this how long can they continue? But to reinforce the BBC's anti-war agenda, the BBC quote more figures.

British soldiers have been involved in heavy fighting in southern Afghanistan in recent weeks and 19 have lost their lives this month.

What the BBC doesn't tell you is that 14 of those were from one accident alone and therefore the number killed by the enemy is 5. And the BBC doesn't tell you that we killed 1400 of them.

Thus the BBC shows it's support for British troops and Britain by rooting for the enemy.

UPDATE

Well, that didn't take long did it? The BBC have already heavily stealth edited the report and the headline now reads: "Taleban fight 'hard but winnable'" Quite a different headline than the original.

The BBC even throw in a little good news - now that he's spoken.

Mr Browne said Afghanistan had seen new schools and hospitals, more jobs and the return of refugees since the Taleban's "brutal regime" was overthrown in 2001.

But the BBC still leave in the misleading casualty figures and fail to note the enemy casualties.