Facebook Plea To Stop Taliban Taking Helmand

The southern Afghanistan province where hundreds of British troops were killed is "on the brink" of falling to the Taliban, according to a senior official.

Helmand's deputy governor Mohammad Jan Rasulyar took the unusual step of writing a public plea to Afghan President Ashraf Ghani on Facebook, warning of the need to take urgent action, following two days of intense fighting which cost the lives of dozens of members of the security forces.

He wrote: "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."

Mr Rasulyar said around 90 soldiers had been killed in fighting near Gereshk, which is near the provincial capital of Lashkar Gah, where British forces had one of their bases.

He described these losses as "an everyday issue" and said there had been a further 44 casualties overnight in Sangin, which was "on the verge of collapse".

In 2006, British troops began an operation to take Helmand from the Taliban and the region, one of Afghanistan's poorest, became the focus of their 13-year stay in the country.

After Britain pulled out late last year, however, the Afghan Security Forces were left largely fighting alone.
Despite extensive training by US and British forces, many doubted their ability to hold the province, which had previously been a Taliban stronghold and the centre of Afghanistan's opium production.

While the Afghan army and police have been weakened by desertions and a lack of supplies, the Taliban has attacked checkpoints, conducted a suicide attack on Gereshk's police chief, and captured the districts of Musa Qalah and Now Zad in Helmand's north.

If Helmand was to fall, it would deliver a massive blow to the government's claim it is keeping the Taliban insurgency under control.

A spokesman for Afghanistan's Army, Mohammad Rasool Zazai, insisted Helmand would never collapse.
Police chief Abul Rahman Sarjang said there are "strong forces" in the province, added they sometimes left areas "for tactical reasons".

He said: "Very soon, we will have major achievements to report."
Underlining the gravity of the situation, US special forces have been reported to have taken part in fighting in Helmand in recent weeks. NATO headquarters in Kabul has not confirmed the reports.

A Pentagon report to Congress last week highlighted major shortcomings with Afghan security forces, despite billions of dollars of foreign aid and training.