The Wall St. Journal reports that “after months of hard fighting, Afghan security forces have come out on top in a key province that for years cost the U.S. and its allies dearly.”

“Helmand province, in the country’s south, was once a major focus of American troops, an area thick with insurgents and the opium poppies that finance them.”

“Now, as U.S. and allied forces depart and leave the local army and police in charge of security, the Afghans have emerged from the warm-weather fighting season in nominal control of every heavily populated district of Helmand—a result that U.S. and Afghan commanders say should inject optimism into the often-gloomy debate over the country’s future.”