Photo Essay: Bend It Like the 3rd Battalion

When Taliban forces suddenly massed in a strategic district outside of Kandahar, NATO forces scrambled to respond. Hundreds of elite British paratroopers set up a hasty outpost in the football stadium to help take control of a city that seemed on the brink of disaster.

Kandahar airlift: British paratroopers from 3rd Battalion, Parachute Regiment, look on as a transport helicopter lands in the Kandahar football stadium. British troops were rushed to Kandahar during the third week of June to support Afghan national security forces after the Taliban freed militants held at the Kandahar prison and captured key villages in the area. It was the first time since 2001 that British troops had been deployed to Kandahar, the Talibans historic stronghold.

Photo: Marco Di Lauro/Getty Images

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