Control of Afghan Sangin Valley Passed to US

British soldiers patrol with ANA (Afghan National Army) soldiers in Sangin Valley, Helmand Province, Afghanistan. Marco Di Lauro/Getty Images

British troops will begin passing control of Afghanistan’s Sangin Valley to the U.S. forces, announced British Defense Secretary Liam Fox in Parliament on Wednesday.

The British troops in the Sangin region will join British troops situated in the central part of Helmand Province, where the largest number of the U.K.’s 10,000 troops in Afghanistan currently are.

Over the last 10 years, one-third of the 312 British casualties in Afghanistan happened in the Sangin Valley. The presence of British troops is the second largest in Afghanistan, next to the United States, which will increase to nearly 100,000 by August.

The transfer of control in Sangin will be gradual, with an expected completion by the end of next year.