Thursday, July 08, 2010
Marine in Sangin District, Afghanistan (photo: Chad J. Pulliam, Marine Corps)
Nearly one-third of all military losses suffered by the United Kingdom in Afghanistan have come in the Sangin district of Helmand Province. Deciding that they have had enough, the British are now planning to pull out of Sangin by the end of this year.
But the withdrawal is no indication that the volatile area has been pacified. Replacing the U.K. forces will be some of the 20,000 American soldiers already stationed in Helmand.
The U.K. has lost 312 soldiers in the Afghan war since 2001. Of those, 99 have died in Sangin, which was also the scene of a major battle during the second Anglo-Afghan war in 1878.
-Noel Brinkerhoff
Marines to Replace British Troops in Sangin (by David Stringer, Associated Press)
British Troops to Pull Out of Sangin, Leaving Afghan Hotspot to Americans (by Patrick Wintour and Richard Norton-Taylor, Guardian)
Comments