The implications of the recent attack on the biggest bases in Helmand, Afghanistan, are bigger than a stab at Harry or two dead Marines.

As many as 15 Taliban fighters, armed with small-arms, rocket-propelled grenades and suicide vests, breached the perimeter of an airfield at Camp Bastion in Helmand and engaged U.S. Marines and British forces in a "sustained fight."

The Taliban fighters were dressed in U.S. Army uniforms, and once they penetrated at one portion of the outer perimeter, broke into three separate teams to mount the assault.

In total, according to the ISAF press release:

"the insurgents attacked Coalition fixed and rotary wing aircraft parked on the flight line, aircraft hangars and other buildings. Six Coalition AV-8B Harrier jets were destroyed and two were significantly damaged. Three Coalition refueling stations were also destroyed. Six soft-skin aircraft hangars were damaged to some degree."

In the words of the ISAF press release, the fighters were "well equipped, trained, and rehearsed."

The attack began at 10 p.m. local time. The fight ended with all but one of the Taliban killed by Coalition forces. There were two U.S. Marines killed, and many more Coalition troops injured.

The Taliban released a statement saying that they were attempting to kill Prince Harry, but also engaging in the attack to get retribution for the recently viral video about Muhammed and Islam.

In a phone interview with the Associated Press, Taliban Spokesman Qari Yousef Ahmadi said:

“We attacked that base because Prince Harry was also on it and so they can know our anger. Thousands more suicide attackers are ready to give up their lives for the sake of the Prophet."

Camp Bastion is attached to Camp Leatherneck, and is not only the most heavily fortified and heavily defended base in Helmand, but it carries the most troops from the widest array of countries. An attack on the base is surely suicide—again, all but one of the attackers was killed.

The focus of most of the reports seems to be more about Prince Harry, but the implications of an attack of this scale on the biggest base in Helmand go deeper than a mere assassination attempt. In terms of morale, the assault comes close to taking on shades of the infamous "Tet Offensive" in Vietnam.

Helmand Province is considered to be the heart of Taliban territory, and renewed interest in the province by the then-eager Obama administration in 2009 sent thousands more Marines and British forces into the area. Camp Leatherneck was built in a matter of months, attached to Bastion (essentially a giant air strip), and Marines struck out in force in the Battle for Marjah.

Many coalition and Afghan Security Force outposts popped up, especially in the province's capital of Lashkar Gah.

But after three years of increased effort, at a cost of doubling the casualty rate, insurgents still find it possible to strike out at the heart of coalition forces in the area, making a highly publicized assault on Camp Bastion.

Strategically, Bastion and Leatherneck lie in the middle of a giant, sparsely populated area of Helmand—what one might even call a desert. The bases are far from any of the main populated areas inside the province.

To get such a sizeable element of well equipped fighters that far into Coalition territory, to strike at the heart of Coalition operations, at the most well-defended base in the province, speaks more than to an assassination attempt or vitriol over a satirical film.

It shows that much of the so-called progress in the past three years may be a wasted effort.