Panorama Preview Screening: Mission Accomplished? The secrets of Helmand

The screening will be followed by a panel discussion with director Ben Anderson; Dawood Azami, former BBC World Service Bureau Chief and Editor in Kabul, Afghanistan; Will Pike who served as a British Army Major in Afghanistan, and on the Afghan Desk in the MOD before leaving the Army in late 2007. The discussion will be moderated by Nick Fielding, a journalist and author who has worked for The Sunday Times, The Mail on Sunday and The Independent.

Soon, Afghan security forces will be in control of all of Afghanistan, as ISAF forces accelerate their withdrawal. Sangin, where a third of all British casualties occurred, is already almost entirely controlled by the Afghan Army and police.

Ben Anderson first travelled to Sangin in 2007, and has returned many times since then. This lastest film for BBC Panorama raises questions about the British legacy in Sangin, and in Afghanistan as a whole.

Anderson shows that American combat troops have already withdrawn, training has been reduced, not accelerated and the Afghan Security Forces are not ready to take over. Casualty rates are as high as ever, they are just all Afghan now, the Taliban are as strong as ever, locals say their lives have not improved and the police still look like part of the problem.

Directed by Ben Anderson
Duration: 30′
Year: 2013