http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/27/world/asia/us-and-british-troops-end-combat-operations-in-key-afghan-province.html 2014-10-26 19:12:15 U.S. and British Troops End Combat Operations in Key Afghan Province The handover signified the end of all British operations in the country, and the Afghan Army assumed full control of the camps, bringing an end to a long struggle to keep a Taliban stronghold in check. === KABUL — Combat operations in the province of Helmand officially ended on Sunday for the American Officials commemorated the handover during simultaneous ceremonies at Camp Leatherneck for the Marines and Camp Bastion for the British forces, conjoined bases that made up the coalition headquarters for the region. The Afghan Army’s 215th Corps will assume full control of the camps, a 6,500-acre parcel of desert scrubland in Southwest While some American combat troops will remain in Afghanistan through the end of the year, the closing of Camp Bastion signified the end of all British operations in the country. During the nation’s long tenure in Helmand, which began in 2006, British forces lost 453 servicemen in the conflict. The handover came amid the deadliest period on record for Afghan forces. In the six months since March, more soldiers and police officers have died than any period since the start of the war, evidence of the fact that the Afghan forces are truly in the lead, and of the grinding battle that lies ahead. Played out this summer, areas once deemed relatively secure grew problematic, while trouble spots became engulfed in violence. Nowhere has that fight been more apparent — or deadly — than in Helmand. Helmand was the first site of the United States’ 2010 troop surge, when thousands of military personnel were dispatched into Afghanistan to beat back a resurgent Taliban. Hundreds of coalition troops lost their lives to ambushes and roadside bombs in the bleak deserts and verdant valleys of Helmand. Districts like Sangin and Marja, home to some of the most violent fighting of the past 13 years, became household names as the United States wound down its war in Iraq and accelerated its involvement in Afghanistan. For the British forces, Helmand was the centerpiece of a multiyear counternarcotics effort that largely failed to stem poppy cultivation. The province, which is home to more than 80 percent of the nation’s opium production, remains the heart of the illicit drug trade. According to a United Nations Still, officials on Sunday expressed cautious optimism that the Afghans would be ready to handle the fight on their own. While the Taliban tested districts throughout northern Helmand, claiming checkpoints, causing hundreds of casualties and sowing fear into the local population, the movement failed to claim any district centers from the government. “Because of the competence, resolve and combined skills of the A.N.S.F., insurgent networks have become ineffective in Helmand Province,” said a statement from the International Security Assistance Force, referring to the Afghan National Security Forces. In reality, locals say, the Taliban have never been stronger in the province. In the face of Western assertions, they added, the Taliban have claimed stretches of area surrounding the government centers and have dominated rural areas, as well as the flourishing drug trade. Perhaps more worrisome are the trends that developed in northern Helmand over the past five months. Unlike years past, the Taliban massed in large groups to contest government forces, a previously unthinkable dynamic given the presence of coalition air support. “Their departure will have an impact on people’s lives and security in Helmand,” said Muhammud Fahim Musazai, the governor of Helmand’s Greskh district. “We will face some problems, like other areas of Afghanistan where the foreigners have left and the Taliban entered afterward.” Sangin district, in particular, became a weather vane of the changing war. “The bases that are closing down in Helmand Province will definitely pave the ground for the Taliban to hold the power in the area,” said Haji Ibrahim, a tribal elder from Sangin. “Our security forces are not able to kick out the Taliban.”