The Afghan security forces are struggling to head off an intensified Taliban offensive in Helmand Province in recent weeks, heavily relying on U.S. air strikes as the insurgents have again tightened the noose around Lashkar Gah, the provincial capital, according to officials and residents.
Even as Afghan and U.S. officials insist that they will not allow another urban centre to fall, residents and local officials describe Lashkar Gah as practically besieged.
The main road connecting the city and the highway to the southern commercial and military hub of Kandahar has been repeatedly blocked in recent days by the Taliban, who blew up several bridges. Many businesses and non-governmental organisations based in Lashkar Gah are trying to evacuate.
The Afghan forces’ continuous failure to hold ground in a Province that has seen the deployment of a large number of troops and resources, as well as hundreds of NATO military advisers, is taking a toll on the residents of Lashkar Gah.
While the Taliban have held the Lashkar Gah suburb of Babaji for months, in recent weeks they have mounted offensives in Nad Ali District, overrunning a neighbourhood there that is less than 10 miles from Lashkar Gah.
Growing threat Since Sunday, the militants have also carried out attacks in Nawa district, the southern gate to Lashkar Gah. Of Helmand’s 14 districts, the Afghan government considers four entirely under Taliban control, four facing a high threat of collapse, four with a medium threat but limited government activity, and only two as safe.
A report by ToloNews, Afghanistan’s largest news channel, found that insurgent attacks across the country had increased by 28 per cent in July compared with the previous month, with Helmand Province remaining near the top.
Over the same period, ground operations by Afghan forces decreased by 22 per cent. But airstrikes conducted by U.S. and Afghan forces increased by more than 50 per cent.
Officials said that most of those air strikes were directed at Islamic State affiliates in eastern Afghanistan. But Afghan and U.S. officials confirm that there has also been an increase in Helmand, where the Afghan forces have struggled to hold the line as the Taliban have drawn closer to Lashkar Gah.
“The U.S. and Afghan air forces are increasing the bombing of areas — it is ineffective,” said Abdul Jabar Qahraman, who recently quit as President Ashraf Ghani’s envoy overseeing the Helmand battle. “This is not a war of tanks and artillery. It is a guerrilla war, and the government should deal with it that way.” — New York Times News Service
