Britain's War In Afghanistan Comes To An End

By Alistair Bunkall, Defence Correspondent

Britain's war in Afghanistan is officially over.

In a symbolic ceremony at Camp Bastion, the Union Flag was lowered for the last time, 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.

Video: Key Moments In The Conflict

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."

Video: Fallon: Afghanistan Now Safer Place

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.

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Gallery: A Timeline In Pictures

October 7, 2001: US President George W Bush announces the US and Britain have started bombing Afghanistan
March 26, 2006: The first regular British troops of the Helmand Task Force unload their kit after arriving by helicopter to an American-run base in Lashkar Gah in Helmand
April 25, 2006: Defence Secretary John Reid announces Britain's GR7 Harriers would stay on in Afghanistan until at least 2007
January 2, 2008: Prince Harry sits with a group of Gurkha soldiers after firing a machine gun from the observation post on JTAC Hill, close to forward operating base Delhi, in Helmand Province
February 21, 2008: Prince Harry riding an abandoned motorcycle past his Spartan armoured vehicle, in the desert in Helmand
The Ministry of Defence announced in February 2008 that the then 23-year-old Prince, an officer in the Household Cavalry regiment, had spent the past 10 weeks secretly serving in Helmand
February 20, 2008: Prince Harry sitting below the turret of his Spartan armoured vehicle as he communicates with other units by radio
July 13, 2009: US Marine Sergeant Anthony Zabala runs to safety as an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) explodes in Garmsir district of Helmand
2009 saw the most IED attacks of the war so far, with 7,228 IED attacks killing 280 coalition soldiers
November 10, 2009: Friends and family react as hearses carrying the coffins of six dead soldiers pass mourners lining the High Street in Wootton Bassett, Wiltshire
November 14, 2010: Prince William salutes the memorial to the British soldiers killed in Afghanistan, during a remembrance day ceremony at Camp Bastion
Capt Judith Gallagher with the Dragon Runner developed by Qinetiq which can remotely disarm IEDs and can be carried by a soldier in a back pack
July 20, 2010: Soldiers from Scots Guards during an operation at an Afghan National Police base on Punjab hill, Helmand
January 28, 2011: Mr Miliband arrives at Camp Bastion in Helmand for his first visit to Afghanistan
January 29, 2011: Labour leader Ed Miliband, shadow defence secretary Jim Murphy and shadow foreign secretary Douglas Alexander watch a landmine detection exercise at Camp Bastion
April 9, 2011: British troops, most of whom are new in theatre starting their tour, travel in a chinook helicopter to Lashkar Gah in Helmand
April 10, 2011: A Chinook makes a delivery at Patrol Base Attal in Helmand
July 20, 2011: Afghan elders wait for beginning of a handing over ceremony of control of security in the town of Lashkar Gah to the Afghan police and army
July 27, 2011: Cpl Ryan Wordsworth of X-Ray Company, 45 Commando Royal Marines, brushes his teeth at Patrol Base Kalang in Afghanistan
November 14, 2011: A soldier from the Alpha (Grenadier) company, the 3rd Battalion Royal regiment for Scotland meets a young child on a patrol in Nad e-Ali
March 22, 2012: Sergeant Jon Van Zyl of the Princess of Wales' Royal Regiment stands in front of two Mastiff vehicles and beneath Venus and Jupiter in the clear Helmand desert sky
December 18, 2012: The Princess Royal talks to Lieutenant Colonel Ben Wrench, Major Angus Watson and Sergeant Gardner in Camp Tombstone during her visit to Camp Bastion
January 21, 2013: Prince Harry does a pre-flight check of his Apache helicopter after starting his 12 hour VHR (very high ready-ness) shift
Harry scrambles to his Apache
April 2, 2013: Petty Officers inspect a Chinook airframe for small arms fire damage as part of the ongoing battlefield maintenance and repair on Camp Bastion
October 5, 2013: Soldiers approach a Chinook aircraft in the Nahr-e Saraj district, Helmand
October 11, 2013: An Afghan National Army (ANA) soldier from 3 Brigade 209 Kandak looks through his rifle scope as he is trained on marksmanship skills at ANA Camp Shorabak, Helmand
December 23, 2013: Private Zina Saunders, a dog handler, gives Hazel Christmas presents which were sent by the handler's friends and family in the UK
December 23, 2013: Soldiers based at Patrol Base Lash Durai, Afghanistan get into the festive spirit
October 3, 2014: David Cameron addresses British troops at Camp Bastion in Helmand for the final time before troops wind down their mission in Afghanistan

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.

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Gallery: Life In Camp Bastion

Soldiers from 2nd Royal Tank Regiment relax in transit accommodation as they prepare to leave Camp Bastion in Helmand Province, Afghanistan after a gruelling six month tour
British troops cross themselves during prayer as they stand at ease on the parade square at Camp 501, Camp Bastion
The coffin containing the body of British Army soldier L/cpl Paul "Sandy" Sandford is carried by his fellow soldiers during his repatriation ceremony
Troops from various regiments including Sandford's, the Worcestershire and Sherwood Foresters Regiment held a repatriation ceremony for the British soldier killed in action on 6 June, 2007
British soldiers play a game of Scrabble as they watch the live broadcast of the Royal wedding
Soldiers wait to talk to then Chancellor Gordon Brown, with a cross in the foreground - part of a monument in the memory of fallen comrades
Merlin Pilot Wing Commander Nigel Colman Officer Commanding 78 Squadron sits at the back of a Merlin at Camp Bastion
Troops observe the minute's silence at Camp Bastion during a special Armistice Day Parade on the 93rd anniversary of the end of the First World War
Lieutenant Chris Millen, serving with 2nd Royal Tank Regiment, relaxes in his bedspace in transit accommodation as he prepares leave Camp Bastion
Capt Robbie Robertson (left) and Capt Olly Denning spar at Camp Bastion
Troops from 1st The Queen's Dragoon Guards with a Scimitar tank
Trooper Ben Rakestrow (right), 21, from Egypt squadron, 2nd Royal Tank Regiment, sits on his rather colourful bedspread with friends in transit accommodation at Camp Bastion
Royal Military Police (RMP) as they clear their vehicle and its shelter of snow following a rare snow shower
British soldier Jamie Anderson lifts weights as he passes time at Camp Bastion
A British soldier controls the ball during a football match as comrades (background), and an Afghan National Army soldier, right, look on during a football training session at Camp Bastion

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."

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