UK forces and US Marines end Afghanistan combat operations

British forces and US Marines formally ended their combat operations in Afghanistan on Sunday after 13 years of war that overthrew the Taliban regime and helped install a fragile democracy but failed to defeat the Islamist militants on the battlefield.

The British and US flags were lowered in ceremonies at Camp Bastion, and the neighbouring Camp Leatherneck of the US Marines, in Helmand province as Nato forces handed over their bases to the Afghan forces now responsible for running the war against the Taliban insurgency.

“It is with pride that we announce the end of UK combat operations in Helmand, having given Afghanistan the best possible chance of a stable future,” said Michael Fallon, UK defence secretary, in a statement.

However, Mr Fallon also admitted in a BBC interview that there was no guarantee Afghanistan would now be stable and safe. “I think the generals have been clear that mistakes were made. Mistakes were made militarily and mistakes were made by the politicians at the time,” he said.

A total of 453 UK armed forces personnel were killed in Afghanistan. The number of Nato troops in Afghanistan, mostly from the US, peaked at 140,000 but is expected to fall to less than 15,000 by the beginning of next year despite increasingly audacious raids by the Taliban.

Nato intervened to overthrow the Taliban government in Kabul in late 2001 with the help of Afghan militias in the Northern Alliance, after it emerged that Afghanistan was the base for the al-Qaeda leaders responsible for the 9/11 terror attacks on New York and Washington that year.

In what has become the longest war in US history, Nato put the Taliban to flight, installed Hamid Karzai as president and helped modernise the Afghan economy during his two terms in office. Among the successes of the new administration was the reintroduction and expansion of education for girls.

But in the years of official corruption and incompetence that followed, the Taliban regrouped and has recently launched raids and suicide bombings across the country.

Haroon Mir, a Kabul-based analyst, said Afghan security forces could fight off the Taliban without foreign troops on the ground but needed “financial and material support” given that the economy was still almost wholly dependent on foreign aid. He also stressed the need for air support, without which many believe the Afghan government cannot win the war.

Mr Mir described the British operation as a “success” and said removing the Taliban regime would not have been possible without Nato, even if it did not meet all of Afghanistan’s initial expectations. “The resurgence of the Taliban, for one, was unexpected,” he said.

Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai, a former World Bank official, replaced Mr Karzai as president last month after six months of post-election turmoil. Abdullah Abdullah, his main rival, had complained of election-rigging but was given the post of chief executive in the new government.

Peter Tomsen, a former US special envoy to Afghanistan, said the new Afghan government would face “long odds” in its efforts to hold off the Taliban and counter meddling from neighbouring Pakistan, which has long sponsored Taliban insurgents across the border.

In a book review for Foreign Affairs magazine, Mr Tomsen said: “The Afghan war is far from over, even if Washington insists that the US war in Afghanistan will soon come to an end.”