US Marines return to Afghanistan’s Helmand

GAH: US Marines returned to Afghanistan’s volatile Helmand Saturday, where American troops faced heated fighting until Nato’s combat mission ended in 2014, as embattled Afghan security forces struggle to beat back the resurgent Taliban.

The deployment of some 300 Marines to the poppy-growing southern province came one day after the militants announced the launch of their “spring offensive”, and as the Trump administration seeks to craft a new strategy in Afghanistan.

Commander of US and Nato forces in Afghanistan General John Nicholson attended a handover ceremony marking the return of the prestigious force, the first Marines in Afghanistan since 2014, an AFP photographer said.

Part of a regular troop rotation announced in January under the Obama administration, they will arrive in stages, eventually numbering some 300 who will take part in NATO’s train, assist and advise mission.

Helmand for years was the centrepiece of the US and British military intervention in Afghanistan -- only for it to slip deeper into a quagmire of instability.

The Taliban effectively control or contest 10 of Helmand’s 14 districts, blighted by a huge opium harvest that helps fund the insurgency.

Around 30,000 people fled fighting in the province in 2016, mostly seeking refuge in provincial capital Lashkar Gah, with the city at times practically besieged.

The US has some 8,400 troops in Afghanistan with another 5,000 from Nato allies, mostly taking part in the training mission.