Afghanistan rushed military reinforcements to Helmand Wednesday after the Taliban captured large swathes of a strategic opium-producing district, prompting the first British troop deployment to the troubled province in 14 months.
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North Atlantic Treaty Organisation headquarters in Kabul confirmed that the air strikes had taken place but gave no details: “US forces conducted two strikes in Sangin district, Helmand Province, December 23, against threats to the force”, United States (US) Army Colonel Michael Lawhorn said.
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North Atlantic Treaty Organisation military advisers, including around 10 British troops, have been deployed to support Afghan forces battling to hold the town. The town is an important poppy-growing area and sits on lucrative transport routes for drugs and weapons.
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A small contingent of British troops has been sent to Helmand “in an advisory role”, the British government said on Tuesday.
But the loss of Sangin, which British and USA forces fought for years to control, would also be a heavy blow for Western powers backing the Kabul government, now fighting alone since worldwide forces ended combat operations last year.
North Atlantic Treaty Organisation spent years and billions of pounds building, equipping and training Afghanistan’s new army and police force, but as worldwide troops have left, they have struggled to contain the insurgency.
Shadi Khan, a tribal elder in Sangin who is also director of the Sangin District Council, said he was trapped in the Sangin army base for three days before government forces arrived.
A Taliban claim that they had the district under their control was widely refuted.
“Those who make such comments do not care to defend Helmand”.
Sangin was the scene of fierce fighting during the full Afghan campaign, with more than 100 British troops dying in and around the town.
However, the Afghan defence ministry said fighting was continuing and that reinforcements had been sent.
A police officer with an Afghan army brigade said: “Support troops have been airdropped at a distance but all roads are blocked and in the militants’ control”.
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”.
Helmand-based civil society activist Sardar Mohammad Hamdard said that at least 200 civilians had been killed or wounded in Sangin in the recent fighting.
The spokesman for the Helmand governor, Omar Zwaq, said government troops were able to deliver supplies midafternoon Tuesday to those holed up inside.
“We need help, we can’t hold them for much longer”, Mr Zamarai said, “It’s not that we are afraid of death, but we didn’t think that our brothers would leave us like this”.
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The Sangin District is a key center of the Afghan opium trade, and hugely profitable for the Taliban because of that.
