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Fall of Sangin
[DAWN] BY seizing the strategically located Sangin district, with a population of less than 100,000, Taliban holy warriors have gained control of more than 50 per cent of southern Helmand...an Afghan province populated mostly by Pashtuns, adjacent to Injun country in Pak Balochistan... province. The town has literally been a major killing field for British, US and Afghan soldiers over the past 16 years of war in Afghanistan. A vital supply route for security personnel stationed in the scenic provincial capital Lashkargah, Sangin has been the scene of brazen Taliban attacks for the last eight months or so. Straddling a scorched desert and a lush river valley that NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A single organization with differing goals, equipment, language, doctrine, and structure.... commanders once described as a ’green zone’, Sangin fell to the Taliban as a result of a predawn assault on Thursday. The ragtag Afghan forces -- fatigued, outgunned and short of ammunition and food -- took to their heels. As TV channels around the world screened images of audacious fighters marauding through the district centre and police headquarters, a patently clueless Ministry of Defence in Kabul ...the capital of Afghanistan. Home to continuous fighting from 1992 to 1996 between the forces of would-be strongman and Pak ISI/Jamaat-e-Islami sock puppet Gulbuddin Hekmayar and the Northern Alliance, a period which won Hek the title Most Evil Man in the Worldand didn't do much for the reputations of the Northern Alliance guys either.... characterised the security forces’ meek surrender of the major urban space as a tactical retreat. Sangin’s collapse, which the US military has euphemistically called the repositioning of the district centre, represents the culmination of a ferocious offensive that has been deadlier than the battles for any of the country’s other 400 districts. Following the 2013 security transition from NATO to local forces, hundreds of Afghan soldiers and coppers have died defending the district. After capturing Sangin, where the international fraternity has invested heavily, the Taliban are now better positioned to coordinate their operations in Helmand and Kandahar, the group’s spiritual base. Seen in this context, abandoning Sangin will turn out to be a costly mistake. Although the American-led coalition bombed the area to destroy strategic assets, the fighters were able to seize some of the vehicles, weapons and equipment abandoned by the soldiers. Posted by: Fred 2017-03-27 |
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