Middle East

US airstrikes back Afghan forces fighting Taliban

Army denies claims insurgents have taken Sangin out of government control

The sun rising behind soldiers during a dawn foot patrol in the Nahr-e Saraj district, Helmand Province, Afghanistan, as the Afghanistan government has confirmed that military reinforcements are backing up local forces besieged by the Taliban in Sangin. Photograph: Ben Birchall/PA Wire.

Thu Dec 24 2015 - 10:29

The besieged Afghan province of Sangin remains under government control after the US conducted air strikes overnight, officials said.

Fighting continued after insurgents captured the area around the district governor’s compound overnight but were pushed back, said police commander Akhtar Muhammad.

“An hour later we recaptured that building and now we have it,” he said.

The US conducted two air strikes "in the vicinity of Sangin", according to a spokesman for the Nato mission in Afghanistan, US Army Colonel Mike Lawhorn.

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A spokesman for the Afghan army in Helmand, Guam Rasoul Zazai, said Afghan military air strikes had also bombarded Taliban strongholds overnight, killing 25 insurgents and wounding another 12.

Operations were slowed as insurgents began taking shelter in civilian homes, he said.

A Taliban claim that it had the district under its control was widely denied. Taliban statements regularly exaggerate battlefield gains, although government casualty figures are also impossible to verify.

The strategically important district in the southern province of Helmand has been besieged by the Taliban for weeks. Sangin is an important prize for the Taliban as it sits on crucial smuggling routes for drugs, arms and other contraband which fund the insurgency.

The militants have been fighting for control of Sangin for almost a month, though the battle intensified a week ago as government reinforcements failed to arrive and Afghan security forces were pinned down inside an army base.

Reinforcements arrived on Wednesday afternoon after being rushed to the region, acting defence minister Masoom Stanekzai said.

Shadi Khan, a tribal elder in Sangin who is also director of Sangin District Council, said he was trapped in the base for three days before government forces arrived.

“Taliban rumours that they have captured the district are not true,” he said.

The Taliban issued a statement on Thursday laying out conditions for a peace dialogue to end the war, now in its 14th year.

Talk of negotiations between the Kabul government and the insurgents has resurfaced after a regional conference in the Pakistani capital earlier this month where hopes were raised that a process that was cancelled over the summer could be revived in 2016.

AP

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