The Times
Jerome Starkey and James Harding in Kabul

Three and a half years after British troops first arrived in Helmand the towns that line its infamous “green zone” have become household names — for all the wrong reasons.

On June 11, 2006, the town of Sangin claimed its first British life when Captain Jim Philippson was shot trying to rescue an injured comrade. Two months later Musa Qala claimed its first victims when a rocketpropelled grenade destroyed an armoured car. By September Kajaki was on the map as well: Lance Corporal Mark Wright was killed in an unmarked minefield.

All three towns, and the poppy fields around them, have become synonymous with British casualties. The bulk of Britain’s 243 dead and the hundreds more who have suffered life-changing injuries fought in the upper reaches of the Helmand valley.

It is these killing fields that British troops may be on the verge of leaving. (Read more…)