Helmand province campaign

The Helmand province campaign is a series of military operations conducted by the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) forces against Taliban insurgents in the Helmand Province of Afghanistan. Their objective has been to control a province that is known to be a Taliban stronghold, and a center of opium production. 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. 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...