Battle for Helmand: Taliban commander killed in U.S. air strikes

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.

This week it was thought Sangin district could fall in the hands of the Taliban since it had been surrounded by insurgents.

“As the fighting continues here we are not able to do farming”.

Britain on Tuesday said a small contingent of its troops had arrived in Camp Shorabak, the largest British base in Afghanistan, before it was handed over to Afghan forces past year. He said the entire province was in danger of falling to the Taliban.

The Taliban published a statement where they said that before entering Afghanistan, the British should have studied the history of their ancestors and should have learned a lesson from the repeated defeat.

While not confirming that they had lost control of the police headquarters, a Taliban spokesman told Al Jazeera acknowledged that the special forces troops had won some ground in Sangin.

Morever, Ghani believes that a decisive military victory over the Taliban is impossible.

Sangin is a prize for the Taliban as it sits on routes for drug, arms and other contraband that fund the insurgency. This is probably correct – but he is therefore committed to cultivating close ties with Pakistan in the hope that Inter-Services Intelligence, the Pakistani equivalent of the CIA, will deliver the Taliban to the table for peace talks. The area is considered a Taliban stronghold, and it’s been one of the deadliest places for U.S. Marines. And Pakistan doesn’t really control the Taliban, although it gives them a safe haven and can manipulate them to a limited extent.

MASOOM STANEKZAI, Acting Defense Minister, Afghanistan: When the USA and the British forces were there, how many enablers they had, how many jets they had, how many helicopters they had, and how many we have today?

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

But that won’t make much difference, and there is no chance whatever that the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation countries will build their troop strength in Afghanistan back up to the level – around 140,000 – where it was five years ago.

SUNE ENGEL RASMUSSEN: Fighting has gone back and forth, and on Wednesday night local time, the Taliban managed to seize control of the government compound for four to five hours. “But it’s when they’re left to their own devices that they seem to struggle”.