Arms and Armour

Helmand province campaign

The Helmand province campaign was a series of military operations conducted by the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) forces against Taliban insurgents and other local groups in the Helmand Province of Afghanistan. Their objective was to control a province that was known to be a Taliban stronghold, and a center of opium production. None of the ISAF's intended strategic and political objectives were achieved in the long term. The deployment of international, mostly British, forces was part of the stage three expansion of the ISAF mandate, to cover the southern regions of Afghanistan. Until then Helmand province had seen only a limited coalition presence. The largest ISAF contributors other than the British to Task Force Helmand were Danish and Estonian troops. In the spring of 2008, a battalion of U.S. Marines arrived to reinforce the British presence. In the spring of 2009, 11,000 additional Marines poured into the province, the first wave of President Obama's 21,000 troop surge into Afghanistan. On June 19, 2009, the British Army (with ISAF and ANA forces) launched Operation Panther's Claw and on July 2, 2009, US Marines launched Operation Khanjar, both major offensives into the province in hopes of securing the region before the Afghanistan presidential elections and turning the tide of the insurgency there.

Also on this shelf

See also

• ▸Axe
• ▸Cornus obliqua
• ▸Battle for Caen

Uncatalogued shelf

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