Afghan forces struggle to beat back Taleban

The Taliban has taken control of most of the strategic district of Sangin where heavy fighting continues.

The Islamists broke through the frontlines of Sangin on Sunday after days of pitched clashes with besieged Afghan forces, tightening their grip on the southern province of Helmand. Both took place before midnight.

“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.

This was denied by the Afghan defense ministry, who said fighting was continuing and that reinforcements had been sent. Before that, British and American forces struggled for years to hold on to Sangin. The turmoil in Helmand, the deadliest province for British and United States forces in Afghanistan over the past decade, underscores a rapidly unravelling security situation in Afghanistan. And Pakistan doesn’t really control the Taliban, although it gives them a safe haven and can manipulate them to a limited extent.

A violent battle has been underway across Helmand for months, a stronghold of Taliban and a major opium center.

US President Barack Obama announced in October that thousands of US troops would remain in Afghanistan past 2016, keeping the current force of 9,800 troops, amid a surge in Taliban attacks. “We hope they will make further progress today”.

The soldiers were targeted as they moved through a village near Bagram Airfield, the largest USA military facility in Afghanistan, NATO and Afghan officials said.

In addition, army units were spread too thinly and were too inclined to wait at their checkpoints instead of taking the fight to the Taliban, leaving the initiative entirely up to the insurgents, it said.

The fate of Sangin still hangs in the balance, with Taliban reinforcements flooding in.

“If their demands are not met in appointing a police or army officials in this or that province, they create problems for the respective ministers”, said a government minister, speaking on condition of anonymity.

“They recaptured the district and police headquarters and the wounded were evacuated”.

Pakistan facilitated the first round of direct peace talks between the Afghan government and Taliban group in Islamabad this year but the second round of the talks scheduled in July failed with the disclosure of the death of Taliban founder and supreme leader Mullah Mohammad Omar.

The chain of command also doesn’t work great, with local commanders basically running the whole show, and in many cases unwilling to commit their troops to battles going on in other regions.