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| Afghanistan |
| Help Sought For Helmand's Marjah District |
| 2015-12-14 |
| Marjah district in southern Helmand province will fall to the Taliban if reinforcement troops and more military hardware is not sent in to help locally-based security forces, said local officials on Sunday. The officials raised their concerns over the deteriorating security situation in the district – which follows on the heels of the recent falling of Khanshin district to the Taliban. "Khanshin district fell to Taliban, Marjah is under threat of collapse and Garmser [district] is a target for them [militants]," said Mohammad Hashim Alokozay, a senator from Helmand. "If the security situation prevails, Helmand will soon witness major attacks by the Taliban," he added. The head of Helmand provincial council Mohammad Karim Atal also raised the same concerns over the security situation in the district. "Marjah [district] is under serious threat. If it is not supported it will soon fall to anti-government militants," he said. Meanwhile, the mother of a soldier in Helmand claims that her son, along with several of his colleagues, have been under siege by militants for the past few days. "My son is under siege with several other troops. They have been promised help but no attention has been paid to them so far. What are air force planes for - that they are not going to their help," asked the woman. However, Defense Ministry spokesman Dawlat Waziri said militants have been defeated in Marjah and that the security situation is improving there. "There is no problem in Marjah. A militant attack occurred yesterday [Saturday] but they faced serious defeat [by security forces]," the spokesman said. Waziri added: "Currently there is no security problem in Marjah and there is nothing to worry about." With winter having set in in the northern and eastern parts of the country, militants appear to have focused attention on southern, warmer provinces - Helmand and Zabul. Video report at the link |
| Posted by:badanov |