Afghan Taliban repelled in key Helmand district

Afghan National Army (ANA) soldiers stand guard during an operation against Taliban militants in the Nad Ali district of Helmand on December 26.

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. “They are not deployed in a combat role and will not deploy outside the camp”, the statement said.

Islamabad, Dec 25 Pakistan’s powerful army chief General Raheel Sharif will visit Afghanistan on Sunday to discuss peace and security and possible resumption of peace talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban, the military said today.

“An hour later we recaptured that building and now we have it”, he said. “Sometimes we have to wait for command, because until we receive command we can not launch operations against them”, said Afghan army soldeir Delawar Khan.

Just before midnight, U.S. warplanes conducted two strikes in the vicinity of Sangin, the spokesman for the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation mission in Afghanistan, U.S. Army Col. Mike Lawhorn, said.

RASMUSSEN: Sangin is actually not as strategically important as many people make it out to be.

At least four districts in Helmand have slipped into Taliban control, badly denting hopes that Afghan security forces would be able to fight on alone after global forces pulled out a year ago.

While NATO officials readily praise the courage and endurance of Afghan soldiers, a Pentagon report to Congress last week highlighted the overall shortcomings of the forces, which it said had serious problems with leadership.

Helmand is not the only province where the Taliban have made gains.

“It is both the government and the Taliban who are doing the killing”, Hamdard said.

In Washington, White House press secretary Josh Earnest said the nation’s thoughts and prayers are with the victims, their families and their loved ones, and that the USA will continue to work jointly with Afghans to promote peace and stability in their country.

The first-ever direct talks between the Taliban and Kabul were hosted by Pakistan in July but the process collapsed after Afghanistan announced that longtime Taliban leader Mullah Omar had died in a Pakistani hospital two years earlier.

This was denied by the Afghan defence ministry, who said fighting was continuing and that reinforcements had been sent. It’s where some of the fiercest fighting took place during the coalition campaign in Afghanistan.