After days of fierce fighting, it was claimed that the Taliban were in control of the local government building and police station.
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Civilians have been fleeing the town amid continuing bitter fighting.
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Kabul, Afghanistan has effectively surrendered Sangin to the Taliban.
Dozens of Taliban killed in battle for Sangin: Afghan Interior Ministry
Fighting continued after insurgents captured the area around the district governor’s compound overnight before being pushed back. USA aircraft carried out two attacks in Sangin , officials said yesterday.
The battle continues between Afghan forces and the Taliban as the Afghan Taliban gain ground on Helmand Province.
It remains unclear whether the Taliban were fully in control of Sangin, with Afghan officials giving conflicting information about the state of their advance.
As the military rushed more troops to the area, Afghan officials on Wednesday asked for the worldwide military coalition’s help, including airstrikes.
Sangin became symbolically important for Britain when it claimed 106 lives – almost a quarter of the nations’ dead – during the 13-year-long combat mission in Afghanistan.
The interior ministry also said that security forces had killed a senior Taliban commander it identified as Mullah Nasir.
Sangin is an important prize for the Taliban. Most of the world’s heroin is made from opium produced in Helmand’s poppy fields.
Captain Beattie, who was awarded the Military Cross for his bravery in Afghanistan, said unless Britain stepped in and helped the Afghans then the country would be a “failure”.
Earlier Acting Defence Minister Masoom Stanekzai said reinforcements had arrived in the area where government forces were preparing operations to push back the Taliban. They were killed when their patrol was attacked by a suicide bomber on a motorcycle near Bagram Air Base, the Defense Department said.
He said: ‘It is absolutely gut wrenching to watch this unfold when our blood, sweat and tears went into Afghanistan and now to see it falling back to disarray.
He said: “The Helmand battle is not easy because the province has a long border, is a core of opium production, and our enemies are well-equipped and deeply involved in the smuggling of drugs”.
“We already said that our forces are weak and need backup but because we have no communication with our forces, we don’t know whether the Taliban have captured Sangin or not”, Rasulyar added. They “had to fight alongside the bodies of their friends and the wounded soldiers”, said Ali Shah Khan, a tribal elder from Sangin. It also led to deep fissures in the group’s leadership, further muddying the waters about just who the Afghan government should be talking to when the time comes.
A small unit of Danish soldiers, who for years fought in Helmand alongside the British and Americans, have also arrived at the former Camp Bastion, Col Jens Lønborg from the Danish army told Danish newspaper Politiken. Both took place before midnight.
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“This is an issue that has to be clear in the negotiating process”, Muzhda said.
