British troops must beat back the Taliban in the next year and give the fledgling Afghan government room to manoeuvre in southern Afghanistan’s Helmand province or face losing popular support, a top UK military official says.

“This year we need to be seen to be making a difference. It is a real danger that, if people do not feel safer in a year’s time, we may lose their consent,” Brigadier Ed Butler, the commander of British forces in Afghanistan, told the Financial Times.