Pakistan army chief to visit Kabul in expected push to peace dialogue

The strategically important section of Helmand Province has been under siege by Taliban insurgents.

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 US will continue to work jointly with Afghans to promote peace and stability in their country.

GOV. MIRZA KHAN, Helmand, Afghanistan (through interpreter): The district is completely under the control of the government security forces.

“US forces conducted two strikes in Sangin”, a North Atlantic Treaty Organisation spokesman said in a brief statement.

The US launched air strikes to bolster Afghan forces scrambling on Thursday to beat back Taliban insurgents who seized large swathes of a key opium-rich district, following the first British deployment to the volatile region in 14 months. Gen. William Shoffner, head of public affairs at NATO’s Resolute Support base in the Afghan capital Kabul, said in a statement.

North Atlantic Treaty Organisation military advisers have been sent to Helmand, with an extra British contingent arriving this week, but officials say they have a purely advisory role and they have not confirmed reports that special forces units are present.

The Afghan National Army & Afghan National Police officers forces killed quite a lot of Taliban fighters & their commander in Thurs.’s military operation, a spokesman for the Afghan Inside Ministry told CNN.

“In total the United Kingdom has around 450 troops in Afghanistan mentoring and supporting the Afghan National Defence and Security Forces and the Afghan Security Ministries”. Analysts say if the strategic district falls, it will be very hard to get the militants back to the negotiating table.

Almost a quarter of all British troops who died in Afghanistan were killed in the town.

“They were defeated even after the presence of thousands of troops and the same will happen with these few hundred troops, this means nothing else but a shameful humiliation for them. We are still strong”.

The northern city of Kunduz briefly fell to the Taliban in late September – the biggest victory for the group in 14 years of war.

The Taliban has been gaining territory across Afghanistan since spring, and Helmand Province was one of their main focuses.

In recent days, the Taliban assault has threatened to overrun Sangin, a major poppy-growing area in Helmand, raising alarm that Afghan forces were too overstretched to fend off the insurgency. The Taliban claimed responsibility.

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: We’re starting this drawdown from a position of strength.