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U.S. Marines, British troops end mission in restive Afghan province U.S. Marines, British troops end mission in restive Afghan province
(about 7 hours later)
KANDAHAR AIRFIELD, Afghanistan — U.S. Marines and British forces pulled out of Afghanistan’s Helmand province Monday, ending their engagement in a 13-year-old war that tested both militaries' ability to fight in a landlocked nation. KANDAHAR AIRFIELD, Afghanistan —Thirteen years ago, U.S. Marines sneaked across the Pakistani border into what was then Taliban-controlled Afghanistan. On Monday, the last Marines sneaked out, leaving behind a province that still could slip back into the hands of the Taliban.
In a secret 20-hour pullout from one of coalition’s largest bases in Afghanistan, the last of the 873 Marines and 350 British soldiers arrived in Kandahar from Helmand. The southwestern province has been the site of some of the war’s bloodiest combat, but large areas remain under the control of Taliban insurgents. In an elaborate 20-hour departure mission kept secret to evade attack, the Marines and British forces ended their operations in Afghanistan by withdrawing from Helmand province after more than a decade of fighting there tested both militaries’ ability to fight in a landlocked nation.
The withdrawal also marks another step in the wider disengagement of NATO-led forces in Afghanistan. Located in rugged southern Afghanistan, some of the bloodiest battles of the war took place in Helmand, and the province came to symbolize the coalition’s broader struggle to contend with the country’s tribal rivalries, porous border and lucrative poppy trade. Since the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, about 350 Marines and 407 British soldiers have been killed in Helmand.
In Helmand, they leave behind an unruly Afghan province that is now almost exclusively in the hands of Afghan security forces. The Marines and British forces will remain in Kandahar for a few days before traveling to bases in the United States and Britain. About 24,000 U.S. troops now remain in Afghanistan, most on four large NATO coalition bases, but President Obama plans to halve that number by January and reduce it further in 2016. What happens next in Helmand, where Afghan security forces are now in charge, will serve as an early barometer of whether such a rapid drawdown can take place without leading to more violence in the country.
“We are doing exactly what our commander in chief has asked us to do,” said Capt. James M. Geiger Jr., commander of a U.S. Marine weapons company. “We have taken great pride in this mission. We are the last Marines and were protecting the reputations of our brothers who paid the ultimate price.” “We are doing exactly what our commander-in-chief has asked us to do,” said Capt. James  M. Geiger Jr., commander of a U.S. Marine weapons company, said late Sunday, a few hours before he started his journey back to the United States. “We have taken great pride in this mission. We are the last Marines and were protecting the reputations of our brothers who paid the ultimate price.”
During the early years of the war, British forces were largely in control of Helmand. But in 2008, President Obama dispatched tens of thousands of Marines to the province to try to back up a beleaguered force. But the final hours of the Marines’ pullout illustrated how unfinished the mission in Helmand remains. Worried about a last-ditch Taliban attack, the Marines left Camp Leatherneck and Camp Bastion, two of the war’s most important bases, under tight security and a media blackout about troop movements.
About 400 British troops and more than 350 Marines were killed in Helmand. And as these troops leave the province for good, the Taliban continues to have effective control over large swaths of land there. About 20,000 Marines were posted in Helmand at the peak of the U.S. deployment, and commanders say their experiences will be studied and scrutinized for years by military planners. The first wave of the withdrawal began around dusk Sunday, as C-130 aircraft began descending onto the airstrip to pick up remaining supplies. Troops, meanwhile, huddled around fire pits and burned old uniforms and classified paperwork that they didn’t want to fall into the hands of the insurgents.
“I think the legacy is we can adapt to the environment, but, quite honestly, being in a landlocked country this long is probably not our forte,” said Brig. Gen. Daniel D. Yoo, commander of Marine Expeditionary Brigade Afghanistan. “We have always said we are an expeditionary force, and naval in character, but we will do what our country needs us to do, and I think we have done very well in a landlocked country.” At around 6 a.m. Monday, Geiger began overseeing the withdrawal of the front-line troops posted on the outer reaches of the two bases, a combined 610,000 acres of desert land. But the Afghan soldiers who were supposed to replace them on the northern perimeter were 10 minutes late, requiring commanders to temporarily dispatch assault helicopters to bolster security.
On Sunday, the Marines and British forces in Helmand formally gave the Afghan army two large bases and an airstrip that had been the hub of coalition forces in the area. “We’ll help them out,” Geiger said of the Afghan forces. “We know how to meet a timeline.”
The troops packed their belongings and set fires to destroy sensitive documents and spare uniforms, and the pullout began later that day. Afghan troops picked up the pace and began manning security at the outer posts by 7:58 a.m., two minutes ahead of schedule. That allowed the Marines to focus on protecting the immediate area around the airstrip, allowing C-130s and transport helicopters to pick up Marines, their weapons and hundreds of thousands of rounds of ammunition.
Under tight security due to concerns about a last-minute attack by insurgents, dozens of C-130s and attack and transport helicopters landed near Camp Leatherneck and Camp Bastion to pick up the remaining troops, their weapons and hundreds of thousands of rounds of ammunition. By 11:30 a.m., the last Marines and British troops in Helmand were flying out, in a formation of eight helicopters.
U.S. Marines and British troops began quietly vacating their patrol towers around dawn. They were replaced by Afghan soldiers, who at times trudged through several feet of fine sand to assume their new responsibilities. “It was an amazing moment, but surreal,” Capt. Anthony Nguyen, 33, a Marine from Houston, said after arriving in Kandahar on one of the last flights. “We are not refugees or anything, but it kind of reminded me of scenes of Vietnam of people running to the helicopters.”
The last Marines and British troops in Helmand left about 11:30 a.m. Monday in a formation of eight helicopters — two Hueys, four CH-53 “Super Stallions” and two Chinooks. The symbolism of the moment was not lost on Brig. Gen. Daniel D. Yoo, commander of Marine Expeditionary Brigade Afghanistan. He left Helmand nearly 13 years after he first arrived.
“It was amazing to be a part of it, and surreal,” Capt. Anthony Nguyen, 33, a Marine from Houston, said after arriving in Kandahar on one of the last flights. In November 2001, in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks, Yoo was the operations commander for a Marine amphibious assault that secretly landed in Pakistan to kick off the war in Afghanistan. Yoo then led U.S. forces opening up a southern flank of the war, pushing through Helmand before setting up a base of operations in neighboring Kandahar province.
“We’ve been there several years, and you see the base swell up with tens of thousands of people and then you are left with a few hundred and then down to zero,” he added. “We are not refugees or anything, but it kind of reminded me of scenes of Vietnam of people running to the helicopters.” Yoo, who did three tours in Afghanistan and this year oversaw coalition efforts in the country’s southwest, including Helmand, said he has watched the Afghan army and police become stronger and local residents gain access to technology such as cellphones. But he acknowledged that the Taliban, as well as Helmand’s criminal gangs and drug runners, still have too much influence in the province.
The symbolism of the moment was not lost on Yoo, the commander. He left Helmand nearly 13 years after he first arrived. In November 2001, in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, Yoo was the operations commander for a Marine amphibious assault that secretly landed in Pakistan to kick off the war in Afghanistan. “We can adapt to the environment, but, quite honestly, being in a landlocked country this long is probably not our forte,” Yoo said. “We have always said we are an expeditionary force, and naval in character, but we will do what our country needs us to do, and I think we have done very well in a landlocked country.”
Yoo then led U.S. forces opening up a southern flank of the war, pushing through Helmand before setting up a base of operations in neighboring Kandahar province. In recent weeks, there have been numerous Afghan news media reports that some districts of Helmand are in danger of being overrun by the Taliban.
A small contingent of U.S. Army troops remains at Camp Dwyer in southern Helmand. It will now be up to remaining coalition troops based in Kandahar province or Kabul, the capital, to help train and support Afghan forces there. “It’s much, much worse compared to last year,” said Mir Wali Khan, a parliament member from Helmand province. “Without support from foreign troops, they do not have the support. So with the withdrawal, it will only get worse, and our Afghan forces will not be able to fight against the enemy.”
The withdrawal of the Marines and British soldiers comes after a summer when Afghan forces faced repeated attacks from Taliban insurgents. In recent weeks, there have been numerous reports in the Afghan media that some districts of Helmand were in danger of being overrun by the Taliban. But coalition and Afghan commanders say the reported strength of the Taliban is exaggerated. They say Afghan forces control all population centers in Helmand. Afghan forces also repeatedly repelled Taliban attacks on checkpoints during the summer fighting season, officials said.
“It’s much, much worse compared to last year,” said Mir Wali Khan, a member of parliament from Helmand province. “Without support from foreign troops, they do not have the support. So with the withdrawal, it will only get worse, and our Afghan forces will not be able to fight against the enemy.” “We have been training and planning for a very long time, and everything is ready,” Gen. Zamin Hassam, chief of staff for the Afghan army’s 215 Corps, said Monday morning as he watched his troops take over responsibility for manning the main checkpoint into Camp Leatherneck. “I guarantee you, if they come and attack us 100 times, they will be defeated.”
But coalition and Afghan commanders say the reported strength of the Taliban has been exaggerated. Although there were several months of fierce fighting this summer near Sangin in northern Afghanistan, officials say the Taliban failed to seize either that city or any other major population center. Lance Cpl. Jordan Cruz, 27, of Brownsville, Tex., said he hopes Hassam is right. Cruz said he’s been getting frantic messages from fellow Marines worried that the Taliban could regain ground that the Americans fought so hard in recent years to take back. He said one of his friends has a tattoo — stretching from his armpit to his hip bone — listing the names of fellow Marines killed in the war.
“We have been training and planning for a very long time, and everything is ready,” Gen. Zamin Hassam, chief of staff for the Afghan Army’s 215 Corps, said Monday morning as he watched his troops take over responsibility for manning the main checkpoint into Camp Leatherneck. “I guarantee you, if they come and attack us 100 times, they will be defeated.” “After a lot of blood, a lot of resources and a lot of treasure, I don’t think they can afford to lose it,” Cruz said of the Afghans. “But it’s important for the [American] people to know we are going home. We are closing up, flying home and giving back to the Afghans this piece of their land.”
The departing U.S. Marines — many of whom have served multiple tours in Afghanistan — also said they were optimistic that they have done all they could to ensure future success for Afghan forces.
“After a lot of blood, a lot of resources and a lot of treasure, I don’t think they can afford to lose it,” said Lance Cpl. Jordan Cruz, 27, of Brownsville, Tex. “But it’s important for the [American] people to know we are going home. We are closing up, flying home and giving back to the Afghans this piece of their land.”