Camp Bastion has been handed over to the control of Afghan security forces, officially ending British combat operations in Afghanistan.

UK troops have been in the country since 2001 with Bastion acting as their main base since 2006. The war is the longest conflict in modern times.

In a ceremony at Bastion the Union Flag was lowered for the last time, symbolically demonstrating the handover of power to Afghan forces.

The conflict saw 453 British lives lost with thousands more injured. At the height of the conflict in 2009 around 10,000 UK troops were based in Bastion. After an 11,500 ft runway was built there it became the third busiest British airport after Heathrow and Gatwick.

Although combat operations are now officially over a few hundred British troops will be based at Qargha Officer Training Academy outside Kabul, nicknamed 'Sandhurst in the Sand.'