British soldiers in Afghanistan haven't made as much progress as they should have because of the decision to divert manpower to the Iraq war,  said a top British commander.

Brig. Ed Butler made the comments in a briefing to journalists Tuesday in London following the end of his six-month deployment in Afghanistan, where he led British troops in Helmand province.

The battle against the Taliban in Afghanistan could have advanced much faster had it been tackled with the urgency required when the mission started more than four years ago, he said.

"We could have carried on in 2002 in the same way we have gone about business now," he said. "Have the interim four years made a difference? I think realistically they have.

"It doesn't mean that we will not achieve what we set out to do. We have not slipped back.

Butler said the decision to send close to 50,000 British troops to Iraq in 2003 stalled progress in Afghanistan.

"I think we may have marked time and I think we are starting to make up for that time."

He said his troops nearly ran out of ammunition, food and water during recent anti-Taliban operations because it was so difficult to bring new supplies into hostile territory.

Despite the challenges, NATO forces in northern Helmand province have repeatedly "tactically defeated" the Taliban, he said. Twenty-nine British soldiers have died in Helmand in the past two months.

Another 20 years in Afghanistan

NATO commanders have been surprised by the tenacity and ferocity of Taliban attacks, said Butler, adding that he believes Afghanistan will require an international presence for the next 20 years.

If coalition leaders take their eye off the ball and fail to follow up military victories with reconstruction and humanitarian aid, the Taliban could make a comeback, he said.

His comments came the same day British troops withdrew from the southern Helmand town of Musa Qala after village elders brokered a deal that will see Taliban fighters leave the area. Locals are calling it a ceasefire, but the military isn't using that term.

Butler is the second senior British military commander to criticize the government's military policies.

Last week, Gen. Sir Richard Dannatt, chief of the general staff, called British Prime Minister Tony Blair's Iraq policies "naive" and said troops should get out of the country soon. He later played down his remarks, saying he was talking about a phased pullout spanning two or three years.

Blair, who will leave office within a year, has seen his popularity drop in polls over the country's role in the Iraq war.

More than 2,000 Canadian troops are fighting the Taliban in Kandahar province in the country's southern region. Forty-two soldiers and one diplomat have died in Afghanistan since 2002.