Taliban capture key southern district
Helmand capital also at risk of falling to militants
KANDAHAR, AFGHANISTAN // Taliban fighters captured the southern district of Sangin yesterday in another setback for Afghan forces in opium- rich Helmand province ahead of the spring fighting season.
Its capture marks the culmination of the Taliban’s yearlong offensive to seize the district and underscores their growing strength.
US and British forces had suffered heavy casualties in the district until it was handed over to Afghan personnel.
Most of Helmand is already estimated to be under Taliban control, with the capital Lashkar Gah – one of the last government-held enclaves – also at the risk of falling to the Taliban’s repeated assaults.
“Our forces have retreated from government offices, including the police headquarters and the governor’s office in Sangin,” said Omar Zwak, spokesman for Helmand’s governor.
“But we are preparing to take it back.”
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said that insur- gents had overrun the district centre.
For years, Helmand was the centrepiece of the western military intervention in Afghanistan, only for it to slip deeper into instability.
The Taliban effectively control or contest 10 of the 14 districts in Helmand, the deadliest province for British and US troops over the past decade and blighted by a huge opium harvest that helps fund the insurgency. The Pentagon has said it would deploy about 300 Marines this spring to Helmand, where US forces engaged in combat until they pulled out in 2014.
Separately yesterday, a policeman linked to the Taliban killed nine of his colleagues as they were sleeping in the northern Kunduz province, police chief Aziz Kamawal said.
Insider attacks – when Afghan soldiers and police turn their weapons on their colleagues or international troops – have been a major problem during the more than 15- year- long conflict.
Last week, three US soldiers were wounded when an Afghan soldier opened fire in Helmand. It was the first known insider attack on international forces this year.