KABUL, 30th April, 2017 (WAM) — US service members from the have reportedly returned to Afghanistan’s Helmand province, a Taliban stronghold, nearly three years after the US-led NATO forces ended combat missions in the country, according to the Qatar News Agency, QNA.
The agency says that at least 300 Marines have been deployed to the southwestern province, the site of many battles during the Afghan war. They will train, advise and assist Afghan soldiers and police. The deployment to Helmand came a day after a resurgent Taliban announced the launch of their so-called ‘Spring Offensive’.
Helmand for years was the centerpiece of the US and British military intervention in Afghanistan. The Taliban effectively controls or contests 10 of Helmand’s 14 districts, aided by a huge opium harvest.
The US has approximately 8,400 troops in Afghanistan along with some 5,000 NATO allies.
