Operation Moshtarak in Marjah, Afghanistan

Soldiers from the 1st Battalion the Royal Welsh prepare for early morning boarding as helicopters warm their engines at Camp Bastion in Helmand province
Photograph: Ssgt Will Craig/AFP/Getty Images

A column of US troops from 3rd Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment makes it way towards the town of Marjah in Helmand province
Photograph: David Guttenfelder/AP

US soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment take cover as an improvised explosive device is found and detonated on the outskirts of the town of Marjah
Photograph: David Guttenfelder/AP

A US soldier returns fire as others run for cover during a firefight with insurgents in the Badula Qulp area, west of Lashkar Gah
Photograph: Pier Paolo Cito/AP

US soldiers with 1/3 Marine Weapons Company fix their weapons on a man found hiding in an irrigation canal north-east of Marjah. The farmer, suspected of being a Taliban spotter, was searched and released
Photograph: Patrick Baz/AFP/Getty Images

US Army flight medic Sgt Bryan Eickelberg with Charlie Company, All American Dustoff, flies on a pickup mission in a Black Hawk helicopter over Marjah
Photograph: Brennan Linsley/AP

The bodies of Taliban militants are transported in the back of a police vehicle following an operation in the Enjil district of Herat
Photograph: Reza Shir Mohammadi/AP

A jet flies overhead as US soldiers with 1/3 Charlie Company battle Taliban militants north-east of Marjah
Photograph: Patrick Baz/AFP/Getty Images

A wounded US soldier is evacuated from Marjah
Photograph: Brennan Linsley/AP

Smoke rises from a Hellfire missile strike as US troops from 3rd Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment make their way towards Marjah
Photograph: David Guttenfelder/AP

Afghan security personnel search a man in Qari Saheb village in Helmand province as British and US troops look on
Photograph: Massoud Hossaini/AFP/Getty Images

An Afghan boy carries his pet bird past US troops with 1/3 Marine Charlie company in Trikh Nawar, north-east of Marjah
Photograph: Patrick Baz/AFP/Getty Images

A US 1/3 Marine Weapons Company lieutenant issues orders as his troops come under Taliban sniper fire north-east of Marjah
Photograph: Patrick Baz/AFP/Getty Images

Afghan national army and international forces patrol in Qari Saheb, in Helmand, during the third day of a joint operation
Photograph: Massoud Hossaini/AFP/Getty Images

A US marine breaks down the door of a house to search for weapons during an operation in Marjah
Photograph: Goran Tomasevic/Reuters

US marines take cover in an open poppy field during a firefight in the town of Marjah
Photograph: David Guttenfelder/AP

US army Lieutenant Colonel Burton Shields gestures in silhouette at a meeting with village leaders in the Badula Qulp area
Photograph: Pier Paolo Cito/AP

A US combat medical specialist holds his glasses as a Black Hawk helicopter evacuates a wounded Afghan boy from an outpost in Badula Qulp
Photograph: Pier Paolo Cito/AP

US marines and Afghan soldiers walk over a military bridge into an area where the marines have begun setting up a small forward operating base in Marjah
Photograph: David Guttenfelder/AP

Marines and an Afghan soldier prepare to enter a house to search for weapons in Marjah
Photograph: Goran Tomasevic/Reuters

US Marine Gunnery Sergeant Brandon Dickinson holds a toddler in Marjah. The marines were approached by the boy's father, who wanted help for his son's skin condition
Photograph: Goran Tomasevic/Reuters

Marines use dogs to search for explosives in Marjah
Photograph: Goran Tomasevic/Reuters

Marines warm themselves around a fire as they burn their ration boxes
Photograph: David Guttenfelder/AP

An Afghan man comes out of the building as US soldiers of the 1st Battalion, 17th Infantry Regiment, 5th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, sit during a foot patrol in the Badula Qulp area, West of Lashkar Gah in Helmand province
Photograph: Pier Paolo Cito/AP

A US Marine sleeps outside a makeshift base in Marjah
Photograph: Altaf Qadri/AFP/Getty Images

A US Marine with Nato forces instructs Afghan men to raise their clothes to reveal that they are not hiding weapons in Marjah
Photograph: Altaf Qadri/AFP/Getty Images

During a sporadic firefight, US Army Staff Sgt and flight medic Robert B Cowdrey with Task Force Pegasus, coordinates a medical evacuation mission as Marine infantrymen carry a combative and wounded Taliban fighter captured minutes earlier, in Marjah
Photograph: Brennan Linsley/AP

During a sporadic firefight, US Army Staff Sgt and flight medic Robert B Cowdrey, top right, with Task Force Pegasus, coordinates a medical evacuation mission as Marine infantrymen carry onto a helicopter one of two wounded Taliban fighters captured in Marjah
Photograph: Brennan Linsley/AP

Airborne in a US Army Task Force Pegasus helicopter, US Army Staff Sgt and flight medic Robert B Cowdrey, gives medical care to an Afghan National Army soldier with a gunshot wound
Photograph: Brennan Linsley/AP

A US marine with Marine Charlie Company walks past a farm in Trikh Nawar, an area on the outskirts of Marjah
Photograph: Patrick Baz/AFP/Getty Images

US Marines from 3rd Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, walk in the tracks of a vehicle to avoid improvised explosive devices as their platoon tries to clear a route to reach another platoon in Marjah
Photograph: David Guttenfelder/AP

A US Marine from Bravo Company of the 1st Battalion, 6th Marines, kneels next to the body of a Taliban fighter in Marjah
Photograph: Goran Tomasevic/Reuters