KABUL, Afghanistan, Sept. 20 (UPI) -- British troops have turned the responsibility of securing one of the most dangerous places in Afghanistan over to U.S. Marines, a military commander said.
The British forces will be redeployed from Sangin, where they've been for four years, to another region in central Helmand province, the BBC reported Monday.
Sangin is one of the central locations of the opium trade in southern Afghanistan and has traditionally supported the Taliban, the BBC said.
"The level of sacrifice has been high and we should never forget the many brave troops who have lost their lives in the pursuit of success in an international mission rooted firmly in our own national security in the United Kingdom," said U.K. Defense Secretary Liam Fox.
U.K. forces have been in Sangin since 2006 and 106 U.K. personnel have been killed. Of 337 U.K. deaths in Afghanistan since 2001, nearly a third have been in Sangin.
"I do feel a little hollow that we didn't break this place, we didn't bring it to our way of thinking," said British trooper James "Ned" Kelly. "I feel a little heartbroken that we didn't finish it."
U.S. military officials have already changed the strategy in the area, pulling out of some patrol bases that the British fought hard to establish and protect, the BBC said.
Sangin may be the most dangerous theater of operation for allied troops, but a British officer said U.K. troops have made it safer.
"By taking the fight to the Taliban in the areas they hold most dear, that has certainly had a positive effect elsewhere in Helmand and southern Afghanistan," Lt. Col. Paul James said.
There are about 9,500 U.K. troops in Afghanistan. Most are deployed in the south.
