USA air strikes in Afghan district under Taliban siege

Wounded forces have been ferried out.

A Taliban commander said that his group had been promised Russian arms and financial support only weeks before a resurgence in violence that has seen key districts in the southern province of Helmand fall under Taliban control.

The ministry named the dead commander as Mullah Nasir, a confidant of Taliban leader Mullah Akhtar Mansour.

Alarmed by the Taliban advances, Britain has sent extra personnel to NATO’s Resolute Support advisory mission in Helmand in a bid to help struggling local forces.

But civilian and military officials said Sangin remained in government hands after the United States conducted two airstrikes overnight, and Afghan military helicopters dropped food and ammunition to soldiers and police who had been surrounded and trapped inside the district army base for days.

Some units are said to be under-strength because of so-called ghost-troops.

SIEGEL: From what you say, it sounds that almost a year after North Atlantic Treaty Organisation forces officially ended the combat mission in Afghanistan, that the conflict in that country is not much closer to resolution. “When there is no fighting here then we can enjoy living and working on our farmlands”, said Hameed Ullah, a local farmer.

One year on, the region risks being overrun by the Taliban because of confusion, corruption and mismanagement in Afghan forces.

“An hour later we recaptured that building and now we have it”, he told The Associated Press.

“Sangin became fairly totemic for the British because of the number of soldiers lost”, he said. What is the strategic importance of the district?

Strategically located, and a centre for opium production, Sangin would be a significant gain for the Taliban.

“This is probably the worst of the scenarios that the British had in 2013 and 2014”.

However, Helmand’s deputy governor, Mohammad Jan Rasoolyar, denied the claim.

“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. In short, that means that they’re training Afghan Security Forces, but in particular, in Helmand, they’re assisting them and advising them on beating back the Taliban.

David Sedney, a foreign policy analyst at the Wilson Center in Washington D.C, said that the Afghan army is showing its weakness.

“They’re fine as long as they’re being assisted and they’re being provided air cover and things like that by Western forces”.