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Fighting continues in Helmand
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.by Boris Rozhin [ColonelCassad] During the night, Taliban fighters entered the provincial capital of Helmand. Street fighting still continues in the city. Afghan special forces commanders say there are heavy street fighting and the Taliban are pushing, but the military is holding the city center and a number of key administrative buildings. By the evening of July 30, the battle was raging 100 meters from the Helmand provincial police headquarters. During the fighting, losses were suffered by both military and militants, as well as civilians who fell under the gunfire. Commando squads are urgently deployed to the city by helicopters to contain Taliban attacks. Super-Tucano attack aircraft made a series of strikes in the area of the city. For the Afghan government, these developments could be critical. If it succeeds in keeping Lashkar Gah, it will look like a defeat for the Taliban, which will somewhat destroy the picture of non-stop success created by the Taliban and show that even without direct US assistance, the Afghan military can defeat the Taliban. Therefore, by getting involved in the battles for Lashkar Gah, the Taliban are also at risk, since failure can cause some damage to their strategy. And he will also not be able to retreat without costs, since the authorities will declare that they have successfully repelled the Taliban offensive. The government cannot retreat either, since the surrender of Lashkar Gakh could lead to a repetition of this scenario in other provincial centers, which would mean a collapse for the regime in Kabul. Therefore, the battles for the provincial capital of Helmand are unjustifiably important, although if you look at Lashkar Gah itself, this is a city with a population of about 50,000 people (plus 5K-10K refugees). Its significance in the current realities is rather moral and political. In addition, the Taliban became completely insolent and began to infiltrate the suburbs of Kandahar, placing their checkpoints on secondary roads. For the last three days, special forces, with the support of attack helicopters, tried in every possible way to drive away their cities, and with the support of the US Air Force, which launched several airstrikes in the Kandahar region. Also, the Americans bombed the Taliban positions at the Spin Boldak border crossing on the border with Pakistan, which the Taliban captured 2 weeks ago. The army has not yet been able to regain control over this checkpoint, which currently brings in hundreds of millions of dollars a year. Related: Lashkar Gah: 2021-07-09 Over 120 Taliban militants killed in recent battles in Afghanistan Lashkar Gah: 2021-05-21 Roadside bombings in southern and central Afghanistan kill 13 people, says official Lashkar Gah: 2021-05-05 Taliban launches major Afghan offensive after deadline for U.S. pullout Related: Kandahar: 2021-07-30 Taliban conduct 22 thousand attacks against ANDSF in four months: Report Kandahar: 2021-07-29 Pakistan Reopens Spin Boldak Crossing Held by Taliban Kandahar: 2021-07-29 Fighting Reported in 20 Provinces in Past 24 Hours Related: Spin Boldak: 2021-07-30 20 Taliban terrorists killed and seven others wounded during a joint clearance operation carried out by ANDSF in Taluqan City of Takhar province Spin Boldak: 2021-07-29 Pakistan Reopens Spin Boldak Crossing Held by Taliban Spin Boldak: 2021-07-28 Watchdogs, Reporters Seek Release of Kandahar Journalists Posted by: badanov 2021-07-31 |
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