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Helmand War Rages As Battles Spread To Outskirts Of Capital
As battles continue raging in the war-hit southern province of Helmand, some lawmakers on Saturday blasted provincial authorities for what they called a lack of coordination between security forces.They said that several areas in the province have collapsed to the Taliban over the past few weeks and that the fighting is taking a heavy toll on security forces. "They (Taliban) fight in groups including guerrilla war, they can not be deployed in a certain location forever," said Mohammad Radmanish, deputy spokesman of the ministry of defense. At the same time, rumors have surfaced that the Taliban has cordoned off the Kandahar-Lashkargah highway. "The Army and other forces are deployed over there, but the coordination between these forces is not good, drug smuggling and an intelligence war are other issues, ISI (Pakistani military intelligence service) has established another commission in the Quetta Shura (Afghan Taliban's powerful council) for Helmand war," said senator Sher Mohammad Akhondzada. It is said that the Taliban has also widened its insurgency campaign in districts across the province – in a bid to mount pressure on security forces, of whom many are cornered in trenches in the particularly volatile district of Nad Ali. "All government officials in Helmand are in a deep sleep, they wait for the Americans to come and conduct air strikes or when the commandos come and conduct operations, the forces are still in a defensive position in Helmand," said senator Hashim Alokozai. It is reported that Taliban outfits control many areas in both Kunduz and Helmand and that military forces are battling to hold on to the provincial capital's in both provinces. "In Helmand only some government compounds are under control of government, enemy exists three kilometers from there and they control the majority of Helmand areas, this is a collapse," said MP Obaidullah Barakzai. Drug smuggling is one of the key elements of the longstanding war in Helmand as the province produce large of amounts of opium in the country Analysts criticize the ministry of defense for not having taken control of the war in the province over the past ten months – which has resulted in the war spreading as far as the outskirts of Lashkargah city, the center of Helmand. Video report at the link Posted by: badanov 2016-08-07 |
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