US Marines aid NATO forces in Afghanistan

US MARINES are crossing the sands of southern Afghanistan for the first time in years, providing a boost to a NATO coalition that is growing but still short on manpower.

Some of the 2,300 marines that make up the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit helped to tame a thriving insurgency in western Iraq.

The marines are working alongside British forces in Helmand province — the world’s largest opium-poppy region and site of the fiercest Taliban resistance over the past two years.