Britain's War In Afghanistan Comes To An End

Britain's war  in Afghanistan is officially over.

In a symbolic ceremony at Camp Bastion, the Union Flag was lowered for the last time on Sunday, marking the formal handover of power to Afghan Forces.

Sky News

Britain's war  in Afghanistan is officially over.

In a symbolic ceremony at Camp Bastion, the Union Flag was lowered for the last time on Sunday, marking the formal handover of power to Afghan Forces.

That simple act brought the 13-year war to an end for British forces - the longest conflict in modern times.

At a peak, 9,500 British military personnel were based in Afghanistan as part of Operation Herrick.

Camp Bastion was the epicentre of operations. A further 136 smaller bases were dotted around Helmand Province in the south of the country.

Towns such as Musa Qala, Sangin and Nad Ali, were scenes of bloody fighting. They became infamous in Britain for the toll fighting took on British forces.

In total, 453 British lives were lost fighting the Taliban. Thousands more were injured, many permanently.

The deadliest year was 2009, when 108 British troops were killed.

Defence Secretary Michael Fallon told Sky News: "Afghanistan is now a safer, most prosperous and democratic place than when we started.

"We've not eliminated the insurgency but what we have done, through the British troops' sacrifice, is given Afghanistan the best possible chance of a safer future by training a 300,000-strong Afghan army and security force."

Camp Bastion grew out of nothing to become a monstrous fortress in Helmand to accommodate ever-growing numbers of troops and the increasing demands of a vicious fight against the Taliban insurgency.

Early on the British Government sought to wipe out the illegal opium poppy trade, but that failed and the mission moved on.

An 11,500 ft runway was built allowing the largest transport planes to fly in at any time of the day or night. Bastion became the third busiest British airport after Heathrow and Gatwick.

The first rotations of troops deployed with sub-standard equipment, when the initial emphasis was on reconstruction.

Very quickly they found themselves in close-quarter fights. New technology had to hurried through to protect against the Taliban's maturing tactics, principally roadside IEDs.

A shortage of helicopters to move troops, equipment and supplies, was finally addressed after considerable public and media pressure on the government and senior military chiefs.

The hospital in Bastion became a world leader in trauma medicine, attracting and training the brightest surgeons and nurses from the military and NHS.

If a casualty made it to the hospital within an hour of being wounded on the battlefield they had an incredible 98% chance of survival.

Although combat operations are now over, British involvement in Afghanistan will continue for a number of years.

A few hundred will be based at the Qargha Officer Training Academy outside Kabul.

It has been nicknamed "Sandhurst in the Sand" and is Britain's contribution to Operation Resolute Support, the name for the training and advisory mission to Afghan forces.

Special Forces operations will also continue in the country for the foreseeable future. 

When asked if British troops could return in a combat role, Lord Dannatt, the former Chief of The General Staff, told Sky News: "You can't rule anything in, you can't rule anything out. If my judgment of the Prime Minister's feeling on this is correct, I wouldn't see a situation in which British combat troops would go back in."

And questioned about the change seen in the once warring nation, the former Head of the Army, Gen Sir Mike Jackson, told the Murnaghan programme: "Is Afghanistan perfect? No, of course it isn't. Has it got a long way to go? I suspect it has. But I do think it is a better place."