Operations in Afghanistan

From the Telegraph this morning (the bold emphasis is mine):

The leader of a paratroop section who took on Taliban fighters single-handedly has become the seventh British soldier to die in Afghanistan this month.
Cpl Bryan Budd, 29, was shot dead during an attempt to lead the storming of a building filled with Taliban fighters after an ambush in the town of Sangin, northern Helmand province. He had led his unit "superbly" from the front for the past three months, his colleagues said yesterday.
All but one member of the eight-man section of paratroopers have now become casualties of the increasingly ferocious clashes with the Taliban.

I'm getting increasingly worried about what is happening in Afghanistan where we have inflicted causalties on the same scale as the clash between Israel and Lebanon, and are enduring - though on a much smaller scale - a relentless drip feed of our own.

The MOD's page about the conflict is here, and there is an associated RSS feed here. I'm subscribed and it is depressing.

It was more than ironic to catch Rambo III and its dedication to "the gallant people of Afghanistan", on late night TV last week. Here's a sample of the dialogue:

Mousa: This is Afghanistan... Alexander the Great try to conquer this country... then Genghis Khan, then the British. Now Russia. But Afghan people fight hard, they never be defeated. Ancient enemy make prayer about these people... you wish to hear?
Rambo: Um-hum.
Mousa: Very good. It says, 'May God deliver us from the venom of the Cobra, teeth of the tiger, and the vengeance of the Afghan.' Understand what this means?
Rambo: That you guys don't take any shit?
Mousa: Yes... something like this.