Marines end mission in Afghanistan after 13 years --- Marines in Afghanistan handed over the Corps’ last remaining base there to Afghan National Army troops Sunday, marking the official end of the service’s primary work in support of the war. -- Camp Leatherneck in Afghanistan’s Helmand province and the adjacent British airfield, Camp Bastion, were both transferred from International Security Assistance Force control to Afghan authority in a ceremony attended by Marine, U.K., and Afghan military leaders. -- The transferr marks the close of the NATO and allied war mission in Regional Command Southwest, overseeing Helmand and Nimroz provinces. It also represent the start of a more rapid withdrawal for the Marines remaining in Afghanistan. According to the Washington Post, Marines and British troops remaining in Helmand are tasked with maintaining security for Leatherneck and Bastion until they return to their home stations. -- Marine officials with Regional Command Southwest said in September that fewer than 4,000 Marines remained in Helmand. All U.S. troops will redeploy from the province by the end of the year. -- Officials also said in September that the Afghan Ministry of Defense was still determining how to best use the massive 1,600-acre Leatherneck. Brig. Gen. Daniel Yoo, commander of Regional Command Southwest, said the Afghan National Army’s 215th Corps planned to use the airfield at Bastion to connect with Kabul and to support its aviation operations in the meantime. -- The base was used by Marines and other U.S. and coalition service members since the 2009 troop surge in Afghanistan. According to Reuters, the U.S. troops in Helmand will leave behind about $230 million worth of equipment, buildings and infrastructure for use by the Afghan troops as they depart. -- Helmand province has been the location of some of the most costly battlegrounds of the war in Afghanistan, including Marjah and Sangin district. The latter region alone saw the deaths of 50 Marines and 100 British troops as they fought to weaken an insurgency fueled by a thriving drug trade from Sangin’s opium-producing poppy plants. -- Over the course of the 13-year war, 458 Marines died supporting combat operations in Afghanistan, according to data from the Defense Casualty Analysis System. -- More, Army Times