British Special Forces are conducting covert operations against drug smugglers in southern Afghanistan for the first time. The operations represent a shift from the British military's long-held opposition to direct involvement in Afghanistan's drugs war. British Special Forces in Helmand province had previously been limited to targeting members of the Taliban leadership. A British Army patrol passes a field of poppies in Helmand province The operations are being conducted at night with members of Battalion 333, a secretive unit from the elite Afghan counter-narcotics police. Nato commanders have long been resistant to taking a direct role in the drugs war,...