British Troops Deploy to Afghan Province Amid Taliban Battle

Fierce battles were underway Tuesday between Afghan forces and the Taliban in southern Helmand province where the insurgents have almost completely captured a strategic district as Britain announced it was deploying advisers to the restive area

A British forces transport helicopter lands at the forward operating base Sterga II in Helmand Province, Afghanistan, on Dec. 16, 2013. Lefteris Pitarakis/Getty Images

KABUL, Afghanistan—When Afghanistan’s President Ashraf Ghani took office, he ushered in a period of hope for the country’s traumatized and war-weary people that decades of violence would soon end. But just one year later, British troops are deploying to help beleaguered Afghan troops regain control of a strategically important district in poppy-producing Helmand Province, and many Afghans now believe the Taliban are winning.

The development came a day after a Taliban suicide bomber killed six U.S. troops near a major military base—the deadliest day for American troops in the country since 2013.

Fighting raged between Taliban and Afghan forces in Helmand's Sangin district, where an official said the district's army base was the only area that had not fallen to the Taliban.