Afganistan

[Vonka]

Monet arabimaat olivat vielä 1970-luvulle tultaessa liberaaleja ja siistejä. Afganistan ja Iran muiden muassa (myös Libanon, joka oli suosittu turistikohde mutta sen pilasi Jasserin porukka saatuaan pakolaisaseman siellä).

Afganistan on yksi napatukki siihen, miksi maailma arabimaiden osalta on nyt juuri tällainen kuin se on. Moni nykyuutisotsikko juontaa juurensa sieltä. Itse asiassa jo vuodesta 1979.

Afganistanilaiset laajoin joukoin olivat saaneet nopeasti tarpeekseen kommunistihallinnosta - joka taas oli ihan oikeutettujen asioiden vuoksi saanut vallankumouksen läpi. Afganistanin presidentti itse pyysi vastahakoisia venäläisiä apuun ja sanoi, ettei tarvita kuin vähän panssarijoukkoja. Tadzikit, uzbeekit ja turkmeenit eli keskiaasialaiset neuvostosotilaat puetaan afganistanilaisiin univormuihin, kukaan ei huomaa mitään... Ja näin tehtiin!

Kaikkien Syyrian tai Irakin sodasta kiinnostuneiden kannattaa katsoa niin kauan kuin on Areenassa. Afghanistan 1979, The War That Changed the World

http://areena.yle.fi/1-2442865

 

[Vonka]

Jotenkin järkyttävää ajatella, että vainoharhaisen tiedustelumiehen (Andropov) ja vanhan kaartin harhaanjohtamana mies, joka on jo niin pihalla että kykenee enää vartin pysymään jotenkuten reaalimaailmassa, allekirjoittaa kaappaushyökkäyksen toteutuksen. Ja tätä nokitaan vielä jouluna 2015, 36 vuotta myöhemmin.

Samoin CIA:n tuki "kapinallisille" eli tässä tapauksessa jihadille tulee kerrattua. Ja kaikkein kovimpien hanujen, kuten Hekmatyar, takana oli luonnollisesti silloinkin Saudi-Arabia.

Lännellä oli omat suosikkinsa vastarintaliikkeessä, mutta afganistanilaiset sissit ryhmissä kokivat, että on pakko totella äärimielistä tyyppiä, jonka takana ovat saudit ja Pakistan.

 

[John Hilly]

Kaikkien Syyrian tai Irakin sodasta kiinnostuneiden kannattaa katsoa niin kauan kuin on Areenassa. Afghanistan 1979, The War That Changed the World

Oli muuten ensimmäinen hyvä reportaasi ko. sodasta. Erittäin hyvä!

 

[Teräsmies]

Why Taliban special forces are fighting Islamic State

The Afghan Taliban say they have unleashed "special forces" in an increasingly bloody battle with fighters from the rival, so-called Islamic State (IS) group. The Taliban's dominance and monopoly on insurgency in a region home to numerous local and foreign militant groups is being challenged by IS, which has been gaining some support. Who's winning the war of the militants?

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-35123748

 

[John Hilly]

US continues to push for negotiations with Taliban despite direct ties to al Qaeda

Images of Siraj Haqqani, one of the Taliban’s two deputy emirs, from a US government wanted poster.

The US government and military continue to seek a negotiated settlement with the Afghan Taliban despite the group’s continuing support for al Qaeda and the increased leadership role the Haqqani Network plays in the Afghan insurgency.

The Department of Defense asserts in its biannual Enhancing Security and Stability in Afghanistan report, released earlier this week, that “reconciliation and a political settlement with the Taliban” is a key part of its strategy to end the conflict in Afghanistan.

“The U.S. and Afghan governments agree that the best way to ensure lasting peace and security in Afghanistan is reconciliation and a political settlement with the Taliban,” the report says in its very first section, titled US Strategy in Afghanistan.

The report then states that to achieve a political settlement, the Taliban must take the very steps the group has refused for 15 years: denounce al Qaeda and submit to Afghanistan’s constitution.

“Success of an Afghan-led peace process will require the Taliban and other armed opposition groups to end violence, break ties with international terrorist groups, and accept Afghanistan’s constitution, including its protections for the rights of women and under-represented groups.”

The Pentagon report continues to advocate for reconciliation with the Taliban despite the fact that al Qaeda’s emir, Ayman al Zawahiri, swore an oath of allegiance to the new leader of the Taliban, Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Mansour, after he was publicly named successor to Mullah Omar over the summer. Mansour accepted Zawahiri’s oath just days after it was given.

Shockingly, the Pentagon report made no mention of Zawahiri’s oath and Mansour’s acceptance. The report did note that the emir of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan swore allegiance to the Islamic State’s leader, Abu Bakr al Baghdadi.

The Pentagon also continues to press for negotiations despite the fact that Sirajuddin Haqqani, the operational commander of the Haqqani Network – a powerful Taliban subgroup that is closely tied to al Qaeda and backed by Pakistan’s military and intelligence establishment – was appointed as one of Mansour’s two deputies. Siraj is effectively the Taliban’s military commander. The US military does recognize that Siraj’s “elevation” in the Taliban leadership is problematic.

“The elevation of Haqqani Network leader Siraj Haqqani as Taliban leader Mullah Mansour’s deputy signals that the Haqqani Network will remain a critical and lethal component of the overall Taliban-led insurgency,” the report states.

“Of the groups involved in the Taliban-led insurgency, the Haqqani Network remains the greatest threat to U.S., coalition, and Afghan forces and continues to be the most critical enabler of al Qaeda,” the report continues. “Haqqani Network leader Siraj Haqqani’s elevation as Taliban leader Mullah Mansour’s deputy has further strengthened the Haqqani Network’s role in the Taliban-led insurgency. The Haqqani Network and affiliated groups share the goals of expelling U.S. and coalition forces, overthrowing the Afghan government, and re-establishing an Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan.”

http://www.longwarjournal.org/archi...alSiteWide+(The+Long+War+Journal+(Site-Wide))

 

[VanhaPate]

Voiko tämä enää paremmaksi muuttua?:

Ulkomaat
Jihadistien sota kiihtyy: Taliban lähettää eliittijoukot ISIS:tä vastaan
Helena Haavisto

Taliban haluaa tuhota ISIS-terroristit erikoisjoukoillaan, kertoo brittilehti Mirror.

ISIS-terroristien ja Taliban-taistelijoiden välinen verinen taistelu jatkuu yhä Afganistanissa. Jihadistiryhmät julistivat sodan toisilleen tammikuussa 2015.

Taliban on nyt kertonut, että sillä erikoisjoukkoja, joiden avulla se aikoo kaataa ISIS-terroristien joukot. Erikoisjoukkojen taistelijoita uskotaan olevan tuhatkunta. Heidät on varustettu ja koulutettu tavallisia Taliban-taistelijoita paremmin.

Taliban näkee ISIS:n vakavana uhkana omalle hallinnolleen. ISIS sen sijaan vaatii, että Talibanin pitää vannoa uskollisuutta sille.

Kummastakin jihadistiryhmästä on kuollut satoja jäseniä ryhmien välisissä taisteluissa.

__________________________________________________

Jos tilanne on tosiaan se, että daesh, talibanit ja venäläiset tappavat kilvan toisiaan niin haen popcornia ja nautin showsta.

Tuossa sama englanniksi ja vielä lisää asiaa tilanteesta.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-35123748

 

[Vonka]

Uudempaa kuvaa Afganistanista.

Kohdassa 03.44 on mielenkiintoinen näky, kun kolmea solun johtajaa haastatellaan. Kasvonsa kätkevästä keskimmäisestä annetaan ymmärtää, ettei hän ole afganistanilainen lainkaan, mutta puhuu arabiaa. Hän silmää räpäyttämättä sanelee ISIS-mantran ja väittää olleensa Taliban-liikkeessä. Kuka hän on? Mistä arabimaasta hän tulee? Kuka loppujen lopuksi vetelee naruja?

http://areena.yle.fi/1-3159317?autoplay=true

 

[Passi]

Monet arabimaat olivat vielä 1970-luvulle tultaessa liberaaleja ja siistejä. Afganistan ja Iran muiden muassa (myös Libanon, joka oli suosittu turistikohde mutta sen pilasi Jasserin porukka saatuaan pakolaisaseman siellä).

Afganistan on yksi napatukki siihen, miksi maailma arabimaiden osalta on nyt juuri tällainen kuin se on. Moni nykyuutisotsikko juontaa juurensa sieltä. Itse asiassa jo vuodesta 1979.

Afganistanilaiset laajoin joukoin olivat saaneet nopeasti tarpeekseen kommunistihallinnosta - joka taas oli ihan oikeutettujen asioiden vuoksi saanut vallankumouksen läpi. Afganistanin presidentti itse pyysi vastahakoisia venäläisiä apuun ja sanoi, ettei tarvita kuin vähän panssarijoukkoja. Tadzikit, uzbeekit ja turkmeenit eli keskiaasialaiset neuvostosotilaat puetaan afganistanilaisiin univormuihin, kukaan ei huomaa mitään... Ja näin tehtiin!

Kaikkien Syyrian tai Irakin sodasta kiinnostuneiden kannattaa katsoa niin kauan kuin on Areenassa. Afghanistan 1979, The War That Changed the World

http://areena.yle.fi/1-2442865

Iranin osalta ongelmat alkoivat 1953. Minkähänlainen iraninkin olisi jos se olisi saanut jatkaa demokratian tiellä? https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iranian_coup_d'etat_(1953)

 

[Vonka]

Iranin osalta ongelmat alkoivat 1953. Minkähänlainen iraninkin olisi jos se olisi saanut jatkaa demokratian tiellä? https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iranian_coup_d'etat_(1953)

Kiitos linkistä. Ei tehdä sivupolkua. Länsimaat halusivat pitää öljyotteen jo silloin. Mohammed Reza Pahlavi oli yksinvaltainen monarkki, joka teki pahoja virheitä jo hylätessään oman shiiapapistonsa ja lopulta yrittäessään väkivalloin tukahduttaa poliittisen opposition kokonaan. Noissa maissa ei konsensusajattelu tunnu olevan valttia. Vuonna 1979 Iran oli kypsä vallankumoukselle, joka muuttuikin islamilaiseksi vallankumoukseksi.

Olisi tosin mukavaa tutkia näitä arabimaiden asioita myös kootussa ketjussa - niiden merkitys kun on nyt tullut sanoisinko kotirappusille.

 

[Vonka]

Afganistanissa Daeshia johtaa Hafid Sayyid, joka on Pakistanista. Hänellä on läheiset suhteet Pakistanin viranomaisiin. Toinen Daesh-johtaja on afganistanilainen Muslim Dost, joka oli vankina Guantanamossa mutta pääsi kotiin.

Mikäli tämä pitää paikkansa, Afganistanin ISISin takana ovat jollain mutkallisella tavalla Pakistanin viranomaiset (myös osin Afganistanin). Afganistanilaiset sotilaat, jotka joutuvat taistelemaan, eivät tiedä, mistä "Daesh" yhtäkkiä ilmestyi, mutta sen he ovat laittaneet merkille, että se ilmestyi, kun amerikkalaiset lähtivät. He eivät lainkaan tiedä, kenen lukuun Daesh taistelee.

Afganistanin ISIS-taistelijat ovat keskeisiltä osiltaan ulkomaalaisia: mitä todennäköisimmin pakistanilaisia ja vieläpä Pakistanin asevoimista. Sittemmin heihin liittyi väkeä Afganistanista, myös Talibanista.

Sotilaita turhauttaa se, että Afganistanin armeija ei iske keskitetysti Daeshia vastaan. Daesh kykenee siirtymään alueelta toiselle, jos painetta yhdessä kohtaa tulee.

Mikäli Afganistanin rivisotilaan tuntoja miettii, Afganistanin ISIS on irralleen päässyt punkki, jota on tuettu Talibania vastaan. Tiedustelupalvelujen operaatioissa on ennenkin nostettu ja tuettu tällaisia herrasmiehiä, muiden muassa Osama Bin Laden. Mutta Daeshia ei enää hallita.

Tavalliselle kansalle asia on ihan se ja sama: maaseudulla sekä Daesh että Taleban tappavat ihmisiä ilman sen kummempia perusteita sillä erotuksella, että Daesh pakottaa lapset katsomaan, miten isältä katkaistaan kaula.

 

[VanhaPate]

Pari oppilasta on vähän pitemmällä punttiksella.

Feature: Combat ready – training Afghan A-29 pilots
2015/12/20 AIRheads/MB


The Afghan Air Force had its first class of eight pilots graduate on 17 December 2015 on its new primary combat aircraft: the Embraer A-29B Super Tucano. They were trained on Moody Air Force Base in the United States by staff of the 81st Fighter Squadron.

In March this year the then student pilots made their first real-life sorties on board the A-29 in the skies of the state of Georgia, a month after classroom training started and two months after the 81st FS was reactivated just for the Afghan Air Force Super Tucano – of which 20 were bought by Washington to equip the Asian country with some sort of fixed-wing air combat element.


Engines started for another combat training mission (Image © Airman 1st Class Kathleen D. Bryant / US Air Force)

Taxiing at Moody Air Force Base (Image © Airman 1st Class Dillian Bamman / US Air Force)

Ready to go! (Image © Airman 1st Class Dillian Bamman / US Air Force)
Al-Quada hide-outs in Afghanistan

The White House and Capitol Hill apparently felt an obligation to rebuild the nation’s military after the US invaded Afghanistan in 2001 in reaction to terror airplane attacks in Washington and New York City that destroyed NYC’s World Trade Center and parts of the Pentagon in DC. When the Osama bin Laden led al-Qaeda organisation claimed responsibility the American military went after their hide-outs in Afghanistan and took on the destabilizing Taliban forces in that country as well.

Granted the US for Afghan deal in February 2013 through the US based Sierra Nevada Corporation, the Brazilian aircraft manufacturer Embraer set up store at Jacksonville in Florida to let US personnel assemble the so-called Light Air Support Aircraft (LAS) in a 40,000 square foot hangar.

A-29 backbone
The A-29 Super Tucano will form the backbone of the Afghan Air Force combat element, giving the Afghans something quicker and more versatile to field than the Mil Mi-35 helicopters it is replacing. Training in January started on three machines only, with only a few USAF Airmen. Now that the first eight students have graduated, the 81st FS will continue to train 20 more pilots over the next three years.

Missing students
The training program made headlines in December when two Afghan military personnel failed to show up for work while in the US. The two have been missing since 8 December and when found, will be deported back to Afghanistan, US authorities say.


Spending time on the A-29 simulator is part of the training. A student-pilot is seen here “flying” over Kabul, Afghanistan – his future area of operations (Image © Airman 1st Class Ceaira Tinsley / US Air Force)
Replacing Mi-35
Shipped to Afghanistan the first A-29s will take up the fight when the Mi-35s are retired in January 2016. This seems all rather quick-quick and it is. In fact, US Air Force Major-General James Hecker, the commander of the 81st Fighter Squadron’s 19th Air Force, acknowledges the Afghan pilots and their American instructors “had to push it” since pilot training on a new aircraft type normally takes two to three years. The Afghan Air Force A-29 pilots had to be ready in 11 months.

Low-cost close-air support
The A-29 is currently considered to be the world’s best low-cost CAS/COIN aircraft, with an operational cost of about 1,000 to 3,000 US dollar per flying hour – use of weapons not included. For a normal attack or fighter aircraft the prize per hour is at least US$ 18,000.


A pair of Super Tucanos in the air over Moody (Image © Senior Airman Ryan Callaghan / US Air Force)

The sun illuminates the rear cockpit of an A-29 Super Tucano in flight on 5 March 2015 (Image © Senior Airman Ryan Callaghan / US Air Force)

An A-29B Super Tucano sits on the flightline during a preflight inspection 8 January 2015, shortly after delivery to Moody (Image © Senior Airman Ryan Callaghan / US Air Force)
Largest A-29 customer
Embraer so far delivered around 190 EMB 314/A-29 Super Tucanos of at least 230 aircraft ordered. Largest customer is the Brazilian Air Force, having received 33 A-29A single-seaters and 66 A-29B two-seaters between 2003 and 2012, with so far four aircraft lost in accidents. Worldwide the fleet has logged more than 180,000 flight hours and 28,000 combat hours.

© 2015 Airheadsfly.com editor Marcel Burger
Featured image (top): An 81st Fighter Squadron instructor pilot flies an A-29 Super Tucano on 5 March 2015 (Image © Senior Airman Ryan Callaghan / US Air Force)

http://airheadsfly.com/2015/12/20/feature-combat-ready-training-afghan-a-29-pilots/

 

[John Hilly]

Taliban kills 6 coalition troops in suicide attack at Bagram

http://www.longwarjournal.org/archi...lition-troops-in-suicide-attack-at-bagram.php

The Taliban killed six coalition soldiers in a suicide attack today that targeted a convoy in Bagram, the largest NATO base in Afghanistan. Resolute Support, the NATO mission in Afghanistan, confirmed the deaths of the six soldiers in a statement that was released today.

“Six Resolute Support service members died as a result of a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device attack in Bagram, Afghanistan on December 21 at approximately 1:30 pm,” Resolute Support said in a press release received by The Long War Journal. “Additionally, three Resolute Support members were injured in the attack.”

The nationalities of the soldiers who were killed and wounded was not disclosed as “it is Resolute Support policy to defer casualty identification to the relevant national authorities.” US forces make up the vast majority of the troops based at Bagram.

The Taliban confirmed it carried out the suicide car bombing, and claimed that “at least 19 US aggressors were killed” in the attack. The Taliban routinely exaggerate the effects of its operations. The attack was carried out by “Zahidullah, a fearless Mujahid part of the martyr unit of the Islamic Emirate,” according to a statement released on Voice of Jihad. One such Taliban suicide assault team, known as the Muaskar ul Fida, is operated by the Haqqani Network.

Bagram is a high priority target for the Taliban. The base is the largest in Afghanistan. The US plans on keeping an estimated 5,500 troops split up between bases at Bagram, Jalalabad, Kabul, and Kandahar into 2016.

 

[John Hilly]

Kartta Talibanin hallitsemista ja kiistanalaisista alueista linkissä.
Taliban controls or contests nearly all of southern Afghan province

The Taliban overran a strategic district in Helmand the same day the deputy governor warned that the southern Afghan province was in danger of collapsing. Sangin District fell to the Taliban despite the involvement of US and British special operations forces as well as US air support in the province.

Afghan officials confirmed that the Taliban overran the Sangin district center and seized control of all of its administrative buildings and the police headquarters over the past 24 hours, Pajhwok Afghan News reported. An estimated 150 Afghan policemen retreated from the district center to a different area and remained surrounded by the Taliban. A member of Afghanistan’s parliament told the news agency that all police and military bases in Sangin are now under the Taliban’s control.

The Taliban has targeted Sangin for takeover since mid-2014. By August 2014, the situation in the district had deteriorated so dramatically that the Afghan military was negotiating with the Taliban to avoid being ejected from its administrative center. Last month, 65 Afghan soldiers and several of their officers in Sangin laid down their weapons and surrendered to the Taliban after their outpost was besieged for weeks without receiving reinforcements or supplies.

The Taliban seized control of Sangin the same day that Mohammad Jan Rasulyar, Helmand’s deputy governor, issued a plea for President Ashraf Ghani to take immediate action in the province. Rasulyar made his dramatic statement in a post on Facebook.

“Your Excellency, Helmand is standing on the brink and there is a serious need for you to come,” Rasulyar wrote, according to Reuters.

Rasulyar also issued a scathing indictment of the Afghan government, the military, and the international coalition, all of which have failed to support Helmand’s troops and policemen in the field.

“We don’t provide food and ammunition to our forces on time, do not evacuate our wounded and martyred soldiers from the battle field, and foreign forces only watch the situation from their bases and don’t provide support,” he wrote.

Rasulyar claimed 44 soldiers and policemen were killed in the fighting in Sangin, and another 90 were killed during recent fighting in Gereshk, a town in Nahr-i-Sarraj district that is in danger of falling to the Taliban. He explained that such high casualties are commonplace.

The fall of Sangin took place just days after the Afghan government said it retook the district of Khanashin in southern Helmand. But the Taliban denied that the government has regained control of Khanashin.

“The enemy claims of causing huge casualties to Mujahideen and retaking large swaths of land is baseless propaganda merely aimed at raising the spirits of their fighters and receiving cash rewards from their masters,” the Taliban said in a statement released on Voice of Jihad. The Taliban reported that heavy fighting was ongoing in the district.

http://www.longwarjournal.org/archi...ts-nearly-all-of-southern-afghan-province.php

 

[Vonka]

Jos vain jostain saatte dvd:n, suosittelen tätä dokumenttia. Restrepo kertoo yhden joukkueen elämästä tukikohdassaan Korengalin laaksossa.

Tässä vähän pitempää tarinaa.

 

[baikal]

Uudempaa kuvaa Afganistanista.

Kohdassa 03.44 on mielenkiintoinen näky, kun kolmea solun johtajaa haastatellaan. Kasvonsa kätkevästä keskimmäisestä annetaan ymmärtää, ettei hän ole afganistanilainen lainkaan, mutta puhuu arabiaa. Hän silmää räpäyttämättä sanelee ISIS-mantran ja väittää olleensa Taliban-liikkeessä. Kuka hän on? Mistä arabimaasta hän tulee? Kuka loppujen lopuksi vetelee naruja?

http://areena.yle.fi/1-3159317?autoplay=true

Arvaa montako kertaa olen itseäni kiusannut yrittämällä ymmärtää, mikä kaiken tämän shown takana luuraa?

 

[John Hilly]

Kohdassa 03.44 on mielenkiintoinen näky, kun kolmea solun johtajaa haastatellaan. Kasvonsa kätkevästä keskimmäisestä annetaan ymmärtää, ettei hän ole afganistanilainen lainkaan, mutta puhuu arabiaa. Hän silmää räpäyttämättä sanelee ISIS-mantran ja väittää olleensa Taliban-liikkeessä. Kuka hän on? Mistä arabimaasta hän tulee? Kuka loppujen lopuksi vetelee naruja?

http://areena.yle.fi/1-3159317?autoplay=true

Kannattaa todellakin katsoa. Tulee tänään uusintana TV 1 klo 22.55, tai sitten areenasta.

 

[VanhaPate]

Kannattaa todellakin katsoa. Tulee tänään uusintana TV 1 klo 22.55, tai sitten areenasta.

Se on Al Jazeeran tekemä pätkä ja löytyy YouTubesta.

 

[VanhaPate]

 

[TomiDude]

Jos vain jostain saatte dvd:n, suosittelen tätä dokumenttia. Restrepo kertoo yhden joukkueen elämästä tukikohdassaan Korengalin laaksossa.

Ehh tuota... Jos kopiosuojamoraali antaa periksi katsella streamia, niin restrepo löytyy putlockerista. Itse tilasin tietysti alkuperäisen ja odotan sen putkahtavan postiin ihan näinä päivinä.

 

[VanhaPate]

Mistään kovin isota porukasta ei ilmeisesti ole kyse.

British Troops Rush to Help Afghan Forces under Siege in Sangin
1 comment

Afghan National Army soldiers guard at a checkpoint on the way to the Sangin district of Helmand province, Afghanistan, Dec. 23, 2015. Reinforcements have been rushed to a besieged southern district threatened with takeover by Taliban fighters. (AP Photo)
Associated Press | Dec 23, 2015
KABUL, Afghanistan -- Reinforcements have been rushed to a besieged southern district threatened for days with takeover by Taliban fighters, Afghanistan's acting defense minister said on Wednesday.

Fighting in the Sangin district of Helmand was continuing as army and police arrived to help security forces who had been pinned down for days, Masoom Stanekzai said.

Afghanistan's embattled security forces needed international military help, especially air support, which would help reduce casualties, Stanekzai told reporters.

Sangin is an important poppy-growing district in Helmand, which borders Pakistan and sits on transport routes for drugs, arms and other lucrative contraband.

"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," he said. "These factors complicate the battle for Sangin."

Taliban spokesman for southern Afghanistan, Qari Yousaf Ahmadi, tweeted that "Sangin district has completely collapsed to the Taliban" by mid-afternoon Wednesday with the capture of soldiers and ammunition. The insurgent group is prone to exaggerating its battlefield successes, and Afghan officials denied Sangin had fallen.

However, Helmand's deputy governor Mohammad Jan Rasulyar said all lines of communication with Sangin had been cut and there was no immediate information available on the situation there.

Britain has sent a small contingent of soldiers to Helmand as advisers under the NATO mandate. The return of British troops is poignant, as they suffered more than 100 of their 456 fatalities during Britain's 13-year Afghan combat mission in Sangin.

Afghanistan's security forces are taking on the Taliban alone, following the end of the international combat mission last year. The U.S. and NATO have around 13,000 troops in the country, most of them operating under a training mandate.

Districts across Helmand have been threatened by the Taliban in recent months. The fight for Sangin has been particularly ferocious, with officials saying that only the army base was still in government hands until Tuesday.

Supply lines were cut, preventing ammunition and food from reaching government forces, and roads around the district center mined, officials have said.

Stanekzai said that with the arrival of new troops to the area, the battle would be reinvigorated and "this should help cut the number of casualties, and provide much-needed logistical support."

The Taliban have fought hard across the country this year, stretching Afghan forces as they have taken hold of some districts, if only for a few hours or, in the case of the northern city of Kunduz, three days that sent waves of concern through Afghans who had believed the insurgency was not strong enough to take major urban centers.

http://www.military.com/daily-news/...help-afghan-forces-under-siege-in-sangin.html