It consisted of the British contribution to the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), and support to the American-led Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF), within the country.

After years in the field, Operation Herrick increased in size and breadth to match ISAF's growing geographical intervention in Afghanistan.

In December 2012 the UK Prime Minister David Cameron announced that 3,800 troops, almost half of the force serving in Helmand Province, would be withdrawn during 2013 with numbers to fall to approximately 5,200.

[12][13] On 2 September 2006, a Hawker Siddeley Nimrod MR2 patrol aircraft, serial number XV230 supporting Canadian forces in Operation Medusa crashed near Kandahar, killing all 14 service members aboard.

[14] 4 more Harrier GR9s were committed in May 2007 bringing them to a total of eleven, along with an extra C130 transport plane and four Westland Sea Kings from the Fleet Air Arm.

[13] In January 2006, Defence Secretary John Reid announced the UK would send a PRT with several thousand personnel to Helmand for at least three years.

[23][24] In early August, 500 paratroopers and Afghan National Army (ANA) soldiers were airlifted to Musa Quala after violence flared around the platoon house.

[26] The Taliban made direct assaults on the British-held compounds, attacking with small arms fire, RPGs, and mortar rounds at short range.

The NATO forces grew increasingly concerned that they were alienating residents with heavy-handed tactics, in spite of their intention to win "hearts and minds".

Realising that the situation could not carry on unchanged, British commanders approached local tribal leaders to organise a temporary ceasefire.

[27][28] Through pressure from the local tribal elders and their mounting casualties, the Taliban agreed to withdraw from the contested towns at the same time as the British, having been unable to realise their goal of forcibly expelling the foreign troops.

[29][30] The British commander, Brigadier Ed Butler, later said the deal had come just 48 hours before Musa Quala was planned to be abandoned because of the risks support helicopters were taking.

[31] The truce drew criticism from American commanders who believed it showed a sign of weakness on NATO's part[citation needed].

The deal would again be called into question when the Taliban retook the town of Musa Qala by surprise in February 2007, following the killing of a leading commander in an American airstrike.

Sergeant Lee Johnson of the 2nd Bn The Yorkshire Regiment was killed shortly after 10am on 8 December 2007, whilst taking part in an operation to recapture the town, when a land mine exploded.

In early February 2007, at the end of a six-week operation, the Royal Marines cleared 25 Taliban compounds in the proximity of the Kajaki hydroelectric dam in order to allow repair work to be conducted on the machinery.

A force of 1000 British troops, another thousand ISAF soldiers, and elements of the Afghan National Army moved into the area to confront the insurgents.

In an effort to win over local support, the Royal Engineers have started work on several reconstruction projects, such as digging irrigation ditches to help farmers in the area.

This is put down in part to the massive casualties the Taliban took while trying to storm British strongholds across Helmand and by systematic attacks on their mid-level commanders during operations over the winter, which has hampered their ability to coordinate large troop movements.

In late August one of the largest operations by British and NATO forces in Helmand province took place, with the aim of bringing electricity to the region.

A convoy of 100 vehicles took five days to move massive sections of an electric turbine for the Kajaki Dam, covering 180 km (110 mi).

Hundreds of special forces troops went in first, sweeping the area and although difficult to verify, British commanders estimated that more than 200 insurgents were killed, without any NATO casualties.

British BAe Harrier GR9 and AgustaWestland Apaches, Dutch, French and US aircraft, helicopters and unmanned drones provided aerial reconnaissance and fire support.

[5][6] 404 fatalities are classed as "killed in action", and 49 are a result of illness, non-combat injuries or accidents, or have not yet officially been assigned a cause of death pending the outcome of an investigation.

[56] According to Investment in Blood, a book by former government adviser Frank Ledwidge, the MOD estimated costs of all military operations in the Afghanistan war to 2012 at about £25 billion.