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HELMAND PROVINCE, Afghanistan --The last time the U.S. Marines were here, a force of 20,000 all but drove the Taliban out of their stronghold of Helmand Province, reports CBS News foreign correspondent Charlie D'Agata.

Back then, Brig. Gen. Roger Turner was a colonel.

"Did you think you'd be back here?" D'Agata asked.

"No I didn't, I didn't really. I left here in 2012 and we knew that the mission was going to end in 2014 so I didn't think I'd be back here," Turner said.

This time, his mission is dramatically different. He's in command of just 300 Marines, training Afghans to fight for themselves.

This is the first time in several years that U.S. Marines are on the ground in the province.

CBS News

D'Agata and his crew joined the Marines as they flew over what is once again Taliban-held territory. Because not long after the Marines pulled out, the Taliban swept through Helmand, recapturing territory U.S. forces fought and died for, with 349 American lives lost.

The fight will now be led by Afghan Brig. Gen. Wali Mohammed Ahmedzai, who stressed the urgent need for increased American support to defeat the Taliban.

Brig. Gen. Wali Mohammed Ahmedzai

CBS News

"This war is not just ours," Ahmedzai said. "It's a war against international terrorism. We need Americans' advanced technology, and more forces to fight with us."

But Turner said the Marines' role is simply to train, advise and assist. The priority is to get Afghans to do the fighting.

"I don't know that having Marines right behind them is something we'd need to do," he said.

Recapturing -- and holding onto -- Taliban-held territory is a task Afghan forces must take on themselves, eventually on their own.

The Afghans are making progress. On Monday, they recaptured a strategic town near the provincial capital, with the help of U.S. forces.

But the question is whether this time they can hold onto it, and for how long.

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"I didn't think I'd be back here": US Marines back in Afghanistan's Helmand province - CBS News

(Reuters) Afghanistan have replaced Australia in a development tour of South Africa after the latter pulled out due to a pay dispute between its players and board. With talks between the union and governing body Cricket Australia deadlocked, the players decided they would boycott the triangular series between the A sides. Australias A team, captained by test batsman Usman Khawaja, were scheduled to play two four-day matches and a 50-over tri-series against India and South Africa on the tour. Afghanistan will now join South Africa and India for the series starting later this month. We are delighted that Afghanistan have accepted our invitation and look forward to welcoming them to our country for the very first time, Cricket South Africa chief executive Haroon Lorgat said in a statement. They are a passionate cricket nation and I expect the Afghanistan A team to compete strongly against our A team and India A in the upcoming tri-series. The International Cricket Council (ICC) voted in London last month to make Afghanistan, along with Ireland, full members of the organisation, allowing those countries to become part of the elite 12 nations who play test matches. We are very pleased to accept Cricket South Africas invitation to participate in the upcoming triangular series, Afghanistan Cricket Board chief executive Shafiqullah Stanikzai said. This will be our first-ever visit to South Africa and I am certain that this will give Afghanistan A team very good exposure to competitive cricket.

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Cricket - Afghanistan replace Australia for South Africa 'A' tour - euronews

The leader of ISIS forces in Afghanistan was killed in a U.S. strike in eastern Afghanistan last week, the Department of Defense confirmed on July 14.

Abu Sayed had served as the emir of Islamic State of Iraq and Syria-Khorasan, known as ISIS-K, for less than three months when American troops raided the groups headquarters in Afghanistans Kunar Province on June 11, killing him and an unspecified number of other militants.

In a statement, the Pentagon touted the strike as a major milestone in its campaign to uproot ISIS-K, one that will significantly disrupt the terror groups plans to expand its presence in Afghanistan.

The death of Sayed marks yet another devastating blow to ISIS, which is quickly losing ground as the U.S. and its allies ramp up the campaign to annihilate the terror organization. Until recently, the group held huge swaths of territory throughout the Middle East and has been fighting to establish footholds in Africa and South Asia.

Sayed died two days after coalition forces liberated Mosul, Iraq from ISIS control, while U.S.-backed Arab and Kurdish fighters continue to lay siege to the groups de facto capital, the Syrian city of Raqqa. That city is now widely expected to fall.

Sayeds predecessor, Abdul Hasib, suffered a similar fate. Hasib was killed on April 27 in a raid carried out by U.S. Special Operations troops in Nangarhar Province, where the group has been most active since surfacing in the region more than two years ago. Sayed is the fourth emir of ISIS-K to die in a U.S. strike.

Afghan and U.S. forces launched a campaign in eastern Afghanistan in early March to, as the Pentagon characterized it, send a clear message to ISIS that there is no sanctuary for their fighters in Afghanistan. Hundreds of ISIS fighters have been killed or captured in the operation, which has distracted from the bigger mission of beating back a resurgent Taliban.

There are currently roughly 8,400 U.S. troops in Afghanistan with several thousand more expected to deploy there in the coming months. Bolstered by about 5,000 additional NATO troops, their primary mission is to advise and assist Afghan forces fighting the Taliban, as the U.S. enters its 16th year in a war launched in response to the September 11 terror attacks.

Meanwhile, a smaller contingent of Special Operations troops are focused on the fight against ISIS-K. Six of the seven American service members killed in Afghanistan so far this year have died while involved in that mission.

But the primary target for the U.S. military in the country remains the Taliban, which in recent years has reversed many of the battlefield gains made by American troops and their allies at the height of the occupation. NATOs combat mission in Afghanistan officially ended in late 2014 and the Taliban swiftly moved in to fill the void, seizing key terrain and inflicting massive casualties on Afghan national forces.

We are not winning in Afghanistan right now, and we will correct this as soon as possible, Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis said last month while delivering an assessment of the war to lawmakers on the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Mattis promised to deliver a finalized strategy for turning the conflict around by mid-July.

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Leader Of ISIS In Afghanistan Killed By US Forces 3 Months After Assuming Command - Task & Purpose

Wall Street Journal (subscription)

Afghanistan's Capital More Dangerous Than Helmand Province, UN Says Wall Street Journal (subscription) KABULMore civilians were killed and wounded in Kabul during in the first six months of 2017 than in war-ravaged Helmand, according to a United Nations midyear report on civilian casualties that showed deaths and injuries in Afghanistan remained near ...

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Afghanistan's Capital More Dangerous Than Helmand Province, UN Says - Wall Street Journal (subscription)

BySayed Yahya Akhlaqi

Afghanistan, given its ancient history and strategic and geopolitical location in the heart of Asia and on the ancient Silk Route can play a pivotal role in the economic development of the region. Afghanistan with its unique location is able to act as a linking ring of Southern and Northern Asia, Middle East and Western Asia and can play its extraordinary role in regions economic development and stability.

Considering the rich energy resources of Central Asian countries, and an acute need for it in the South Asian countries, Afghanistan can serve as a link for this connectivity. Without a doubt facilitating transit and access by Central Asian countries to South Asian Markets and vice versa can very much help in the economic growth and prosperity of the region. On one hand, it is important to transport natural gas, fuel and electricity from countries located northwards of Afghanistan to her southern neighboring countries like India for the development of domestic production and industrial development. And on the other hand, for the products of these South Asian countries can be exported to Central Asian countries, particularly those products from India such as tea, coffee and equipment required for upgradation and modernization of the existing industrial infrastructure and in the agricultural sector as well.

When Afghanistan acquires the capacity to build a port and the road via Vakhan Valley to Xinjiang province of China, then Afghanistan would get not only better transit advantages but this route would serve as a shortest path for export of products of PRC to West Asian countries by road, and on the other hand China for increase of its productions would need more raw materials and the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan could be the source for supply of those materials because this country as a linking land bridge which offers unique opportunities for the economic development of the region.

Afghanistan is one of those countries which possesses especial geographical location with special transit advantage, and can desirably use this advantage through the extension of transport, transit, communication networks and establishment of a reliable transportation system to enhance economic benefits. Chabahar can be a good example of transit transport communication between Afghanistan and India as well as other Asian and African countries. Chabahar allows India to side-step Pakistan, which blocks its access to Afghanistan and Central Asia.

On their part, Indians are cognisant of its strategic location and its potential for opening a route to Afghanistan and Central Asia. There have been two significant trips where the port has figured in discussions on investment and connectivity. During Prime Minister Narendra Modis trip to Tokyo last November, his Japanese counterpart, Shinzo Abe, agreed to help India with the Chabahar project. Both leaders directed their aides to hammer out a plan to fast-track the project. India wants Japanese investment and help in building the railway track between the port city and Zahedan. Both India and Japan see strategic convergence in Chabahar as it allows the landlocked countries of Central Asia to find a route away from ports that enjoy Chinese domination like Gwadar.

The presidents of Kyrgyzstan and Turkmenistan, during their visits to Delhi, were also promised access to this warm water port. From all standpoints Chahbahar located in the Oman Sea away from the turbulence of the Persian Sea region, has the potential to reorder old routes into new ties. Afghanistan can act as a land bridge to Eurasia including Central Asian countries. Russia and the Central Asian countries are also in need of a southern opening into South Asia. Importantly the Central Asian countries will also have access to warm water ports in the Arabian Sea.

Completion of Railway project Sangan-Khaf in Iran and its extension up to Afghanistan, the extension of the Railroad from Aqina up to Shirkhan Bandar and finally into Tajikistan, operationalization of final station of the Hairatan- Mazar-e-Sharif railroad, completion of transportation of energy which includes electricity transmission project from Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan to Pakistan via Afghanistan, operationalization of route to Chabahar port, Lapis Lazuli Route Agreement for exports and imports Afghanistan position as the hub of trade, transit and transport corridor connecting east with west, and north with south is obvious.

(Director of Transit and Trade Facilitation in Afghanistan Ministry of Commerce and Industries)

DISCLAIMER : Views expressed above are the author's own.

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Afghanistan: Transit hub for the region - Economic Times (blog)