Afghan officials: Southern district besieged by Taliban still in government hands

“I am confident that we will not lose Sangin”, Rasoolyar told AFP news agency on Wednesday.

General Abdul Wodud, a senior army commander, said a joint Afghan and North Atlantic Treaty Organisation operation backed by air support had driven the Taliban back from central areas, killing 60 Taliban fighters and wounding 40.

Yet Washington now acknowledges that the Taliban, as in the siege of Sangin, are content to fight exclusively against fellow Afghans. The Province borders Pakistan and has been cited as an important poppy-growing region for Taliban militants.

Air Force Major Adrianna Vorderbruggen, who was commanding the security patrol targeted in Monday’s attack, was the first openly gay US servicewoman killed in action, the Daily Beast news website reported, citing a Department of Defense official.

Col. Michael T. Lawhorn said there were two U.S.-led airstrikes in Sangin on Wednesday night against Taliban fighters in the field who posed a threat to Afghan forces.

Eyewitnesses say some government forces were still fighting in the district centre but are cut off and facing slaughter by the Taliban.

The fierce fighting in Helmand, a traditional Taliban stronghold and one of the world’s main centers of opium production, has piled pressure on President Ashraf Ghani, already on the defensive as security worsens across the country.

But, he added, there was no let-up in the fight for Sangin.

An Afghan soldier searches a motorist Wednesday at a checkpoint on the route to the Sangin district of Helmand province, wher… But their advance is said to have been slowed by roadside bombs and sniper fire.

The Afghan National Unity Government (NUG) announced that United Kingdom troops – including special forces – and Afghan reinforcements had arrived to assist in the recapture of Sangin. The Taliban said the reinforcements showed the government’s desperation. Talk of a dialogue between the Kabul government and the insurgents has resurfaced following a regional conference in the Pakistani capital earlier this month where hopes were raised that a process that was cancelled over the summer could be revived in 2016. Both took place before midnight.

Pakistan hosted a first round of negotiations in July but the talks stalled when the Taliban belatedly confirmed the death of longtime leader Mullah Omar.

Military advisers from Britain have joined other North Atlantic Treaty Organisation advisers in Helmand to help Afghan forces who have struggled to contain the insurgency since foreign troops withdrew from combat operations past year.

Political analyst Waheed Muzhda, formerly an official in the Taliban’s 1996-2001 administration, said the Taliban needed to sort out its leadership problems before it started talking about the peace process.

A No 10 spokesman said: “The prime minister was clear that the drawdown of troops would be based on military advice, the conditions and security situation and the pace of transition”.