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Afghan policemen walk ahead of the U.S. soldiers with the NATO- led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) during a foot patrol in Kandahar, south of Kabul, Afghanistan. (AP)
In Helmand province, Afghan forces have started their own operations against the Taliban for the first time.
It comes as the NATO-led international forces discuss accelerating the handover of security.
The BBC has been given access to one of the first big missions entirely planned and executed by the Afghan army in Helmand.
British troops were only supposed to be advising, but as the BBC’s Quentin Sommerville discovered, they did most of the heavy lifting for the Afghan forces.
