LONDON, July 08, SPA -- Britain's defense secretary said Wednesday that it will take a long time and more British deaths todefeat the Taliban in Afghanistan, where seven Britishtroops have been killed in as many days. The Ministry of Defense said a soldier from the LightDragoons died in an explosion Tuesday night near Gereshk,in the southern province of Helmand. His next of kin havebeen informed. He is the 176th British fatality inAfghanistan since 2001, the Associated Press reported. Six other British troops have been killed in the pastweek, including Lt. Col. Rupert Thorneloe, the most seniorBritish army officer to die in combat since the 1982Falkands War. Defense Secretary Bob Ainsworth acknowledged in a speechthat «the situation in Afghanistan is serious _ and notyet decided.» «The way forward is hard and dangerous. More lives willbe lost and our resolve will be tested,» he said, atLondon's Chatham House think tank. «No single or simple solution will work. Success will beachieved incrementally. ... This is not going to happentomorrow, nor in a few short weeks or months. If we are tosucceed we will need both the courage and the patience tosee it through,» he said.--SPA www.spa.gov.sa/682497