Afghanistan: Holding Helmand

This time last year, three thousand five hundred British troops braved their way into the heart of Taliban country with low expectations of a fight and high hopes for providing security in Helmand province. So optimistic was the outlook for the deployment, that John Reid, then British Defence Secretary, described it as a reconstruction and peacekeeping mission and insisted the soldiers would return home in three years ‘without a shot being fired.’

The World Today
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