Afghan forces on offensive against Taliban in Sangin

Monday’s attack came as Taliban fighters and government forces battled for control of a strategic district in the southern province of Helmand after it was overrun by insurgents, delivering a serious blow to the government’s thinly spread and exhausted forces.

Tensions between Kabul and Islamabad also escalated following a series of deadly attacks across the country and capital Kabul as Taliban launched their summer offensive this year, with Afghan officials slamming Islamabad for sheltering the anti-government armed militants in their soil from where they coordinate and execute attacks in Afghanistan.

The Taliban has captured more ground in Afghanistan’s Helmand province after months of heavy fighting.

A small contingent of British troops was sent to Helmand last weekend to provide support to embattled Afghan forces in the province.

“US forces conducted two strikes in Sangin on December 23 against threats to the force”, a spokesman for the military coalition said.

Helmand is where most of the world’s lucrative opium crop is cultivated.

Sangin is a prize for the Taliban as it sits on routes for drug, arms and other contraband that fund the insurgency.

“An hour later we recaptured that building and now we have it”, he told The Associated Press.

“The visit by the army chief to Kabul is a follow up of commitments made by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani towards Afghan peace at the Heart of Asia conference in Islamabad”, said security analyst Imtiaz Gul.

Several local officials said the district governor’s office and police headquarters in Sangin’s centre had been retaken.

Government forces have complained bitterly of inadequate supplies and reinforcements and little of the air power that backed up North Atlantic Treaty Organisation forces when they fought in the region.

“Taliban rumors that they have captured the district are not true”, he said.

“The liberation of dear Mosul will be achieved with the cooperation and unity of all Iraqis after the victory in Ramadi”, Abadi said in a statement on the state media website on Friday. They’re still in a leadership crisis after the announcement of the death of their leader and founder, Mullah Omar, back in July.

When NATO troops pulled out of Helmand in October a year ago, hopes were expressed that Afghan forces that moved into the two huge bases left behind by American and British soldiers would be able to take on the Taliban alone.

A spokesman said the United Kingdom will deploy British personnel to Camp Shorabak in Helmand Province as part of the NATO’s Resolute Support Mission.