helmand

The idea would be to consolidate around two populous regions, central Helmand and Kandahar, and the main road between them.

The surge of NATO troops into Helmand province appears to be working, at least so far.

They were all passengers in a minivan travelling in Helmand province.

Having visited Helmand, Kandahar and Kabul recently for the third time in just over a year, I found the signs of improvement unmistakable.

The governor of Helmand province in Afghanistan, Gulab Mangal, says a programme of American-funded civilian militia is to be expanded.

Four British marines were killed last week, three of them when a 13-year-old boy blew himself up in Helmand province.

Helmand is one of seven key areas to be handed over to the Afghan security forces.

Five British soldiers in Helmand province were killed by an Afghan policeman, whom a British military spokesman said "went rogue" .

The Helmand Taliban have been able to capture territory and hold it, mostly in the south of the province.

Farther south, in Helmand, where the British are deployed, the Taliban man roadblocks in the Sangin valley.

Eight hundred armed men are now being directly funded by the United States in Helmand, but they've faced criticism for being heavy-handed.

Southern Afghanistan witnessed half of these with Helmand province and Kandahar province proving the most dangerous.

Afghan police say up to 30 people were killed in Helmand province when Taliban insurgents attacked a road construction gang.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown has hailed the British offensive in Afghanistan's Helmand province a success.

Two SAS squadrons are understood to have transferred from Iraq to Afghanistan, joining units of the SBS in Helmand.

British forces described Mullah Mansur as a prominent local leader of the Taliban insurgency in Helmand province.

Mullah Omar is thought by some to be hiding in Kandahar or Helmand. Others suspect he is in Pakistan's tribal areas.

They may be only weeks away, some of them, from a posting to Helmand province in Afghanistan. This concentrates the mind.

November 13, 2010: A father wipes a tear away from his child's face during a Medevac mission in southern Afghanistan's Helmand province.

British forces have been redeployed to other parts of Helmand Province from Sangin, where over 200 British soldiers died.

The situation in Helmand is [now] normally better than in the north of Afghanistan.

The president's remarks follow a recent strike that mistakenly killed a group of children and women in southern Helmand province.

A Hellfire missile blast from an unmanned drone over Helmand was also claimed to have killed six Taliban.

Helmand province, a British commander said Jackson, the British military is here, Christmas Day and other days there is not much difference.

Lt Col Mackenzie said: "The thoughts and prayers of all those serving in Helmand are with his family at this very difficult time. "

In Helmand the British have been raiding deep into Taliban areas.

Over the summer, as soldiers have died in Helmand, arguments have raged at home about the treatment and equipment they receive.

The crop is opium, farmers have been busy harvest their opium poppies. Farmer Faiz Mohammed in Helmand province makes no apologies.

The U. S. military says once Helmand is free of insurgents, Afghan security forces will take over.

Police officials are blaming a motorcycle filled with explosives for the incident in Lashkar Gah, capital of Helmand province.

A flare flies over a shadow of a chase helicopter during a Medevac mission in southern Afghanistan's Helmand Province November 4, 2010.

Lashkar Gah residents also praised the Helmand governor, Gulab Mangal, for his role in stabilising the province.

The father of the first British solider killed in Helmand Province has fiercely criticized the latest report on his son's death.

For the past five weeks, British forces have been clearing the territory between Lashkar Gah and Girishk in Afghanistan's Helmand Province.

Poverty, warlordism and rebels have made Helmand the great opium den of the world.

British forces last week led similar, but smaller, missions to fight and clear out insurgents in Helmand and neighboring Kandahar provinces.

Britt was wounded in an IED strike near Sangin, in the Helmand Province of southern Afghanistan.

The latest deaths have come after the completion of Operation Panther's Claw in central Helmand.

Afghan officials said a roadside bomb in Musa Qala district of Helmand province killed three Afghan soldiers and wounded two others Sunday.

But less than 20% of Helmand's people are poor, compared with a national average of 36%.

That is an area of southern Helmand province which, with much trumpet-blast, American marines claimed to have captured earlier this year.

Cpl. Lisa Gardner here checks on the medical condition of a group of Afghan women in Lakari, Helmand Province.

The remaining third -- in particular Helmand and Kandahar provinces -- is rife with both poppies and insurgents.

A parliamentarian from Helmand says no one will vote outside that violent province's two biggest towns.

Bolan is also one of the richest poppy-growing areas in Helmand province.

Corporal Gardner smokes a cigarette as a girl looks on in Abdul Ghayas village in Helmand Province, Afghanistan.

BBC News with Aleem MaqboolIn Afghanistan, six more British soldiers have been killed in the latest fighting in Helmand Province.

But this year, with the deployment of US troops to Helmand, things had seemed to quieten down.

A sixth man died in a separate incident near Nad-e-Ali in Helmand province, the Ministry of Defence said.

Latelast year, an Afghan police officer in Helmand Province killed five Britishsoldiers with whom he had been working.

Cotton-growing is resurgent in a neighbouring province, Helmand.

Large crowds gathered in an English town Friday to bid farewell to 250 soldiers who will be heading to Helmand Province in April.

He next visited U. S. Marines in a sweltering hot tent at isolated Camp Dwyer in Helmand Province.

The numbers of troops and police in this once-ignored, poppy-growing patch of Helmand explains Marja's transformation.

The bloodiest province is, of course, Helmand, where 516 members of the coalition have died, according to iCasualties. org.

British soldier talks on a satellite phone in Helmand province, Afghanistan.

The loss of three soldiers will be a severe blow to the British Task Force in Helmand.

Five years ago the province was Afghanistan's second-biggest opium producer, after the Taliban-controlled province of Helmand.

At the very least Mr Brown should agree to the army's request for a permanent uplift of 2, 000 troops for Helmand.

Not surprisingly, perhaps, both problems have grown more severe in recent years, nowhere more so than in Helmand.

a van line to the southern Afghan province of Helmand when hit by a roadside bomb attack, 18 civilians were killed.

A second cluster of eight shootings, involve Royal Marine commandos in Helmand in the six months from October 2008.

The six British soldiers killed in Helmand over the past three months were victims of roadside bombs.

The air strike was ordered after a US Marine base in the Nazwad district of Helmand province came under attack on Sunday.

American Marines have recaptured Taliban-held towns in Helmand province.

A grove of trees cuts through a river in Helmand province.

Helmand is now in arms, with 20, 000 British and American troops now battling to control its main towns and roads.

The goal is to clear insurgents from the hotly contested Helmand River Valley before the nation's August 20 presidential election.

The Islamic rebels have taken control of southernmost Garmser district in Helmand province after days of fighting.

Marines protect their faces as a helicopter lands at Musa Qala base in Helmand province on Jan.

He was killed in Helmand province during a U. S. -led operation, supported by NATO forces.

A convoy of U. S. Marines drives in the desert outside of Marjah in Afghanistan's Helmand province.

She braved the dangers of war to spend time with troops in the treacherous Helmand Province.

For those who patrol the valleys of Helmand, it is a way to impose limits on the uncertainty of war and the constancy of vulnerability.

Oruzgan has mostly come under pressure from groups in Kandahar and Helmand.

Britain's Prince Harry, left, talks to a Gurkha in Helmand province in Southern Afghanistan on Jan.

Nearly 1, 000 families displaced by the fighting have arrived in Helmand's capital, Lashkar Gah, a provincial official says.

Kabul's writ has never run strong in the remote southern plains of Helmand province.

A district official distributes books to children in Garmser, Helmand province.

July 26, 2009: British soldiers cover themselves from dust as a helicopter lands at the Malgeer village in Helmand province.

More than 4, 000 U. S. Marines began an attack against Taliban holdouts in Afghanistan's Helmand province early Thursday morning.

A young woman at the edge of a field in Helmand province on Oct.

They will be used by a number of regiments including the RAF's Bomb Disposal Squadron, which is being deployed to Helmand province in March.

It is understood they died when the planes dropped a bomb near their patrol in Helmand province.

Another attack in September 2007 claimed around 70 civilian casualties near markets in Helmand province.

The story of Nad Ali illustrates the unhappy experience in Helmand.

On a recent Sunday, Subler performed Mass at three patrol bases in the Badula Qulp region of Helmand Province.

Marines rest in a compound near Shir Chazay in Musa Qala district of Helmand province on Jan.

In the summer of 2009 US and UK forces led a major anti-Taliban offensive in Helmand province.

Young Afghan boys eat ice cream in the town of Musa Qala in Helmand province on April 9.

In the summer of 2009 US and UK forces led a major anti-Taliban offensive in Helmand province.

Young Afghan boys eat ice cream in the town of Musa Qala in Helmand province on April 9.

During the summer of 2007 an average of 22 tonnes of ordnance was dropped on Helmand every month.

Afghan boys take a break from their ride to pray at dawn near Marja in Helmand province on March 17.

Some 8, 000 British troops are now fighting the Taliban and other insurgent groups in Helmand province in Afghanistan.

Before Helmand was very insecure, unsafe, and now it's not like that.

Telford signed up with the army at the first possible opportunity, when he was 16, and kept his family posted about his work in Helmand.

The biggest reason for cheer is Helmand province, where cultivation has decreased dramatically from 103, 590 hectares to 68, 833 hectares.

A Marine Corps UH-1Y Huey with Marine Light Attack Helicopter Squadron 369 lands in Helmand province, Afghanistan, on December 25, 2011.

"Already I am hearing a lot of positive feedback [about the Helmand operation], " says Afghanistan's Interior Minister, Hanif Atmar.

The Helmand police training centre opened in 2009 and has trained more than 2, 200 recruits.

A CH-53 helicopter lands at Forward Operating Base Musa Qala in Helmand province, on Oct.

If the army wants to get supplies down to Helmand, for example, the trucks must make their way through Kandahar.

America's marines launched a big operation in Helmand on July 2nd.

British troops in Afghanistan are to hand over responsibility for the Sangin area of Helmand province to US forces, the BBC understands. BBC

NATO Soldiers in Helmand province see the expanse of purple and pink blossoms flashing by, but they do little to stop drug production;

Helmand Province, Afghanistan