Source: NY Times
KABUL, Afghanistan — Local Afghan officials say more than 200 police officers and soldiers have been killed during a fierce Taliban offensive in Helmand Province that has lasted all summer and now threatens to overwhelm a key district.
Officials at the national level have downplayed the violence and even, in some cases, flatly denied that there is a problem. But local military, police and government officials, including two Afghan generals, have said in recent days that they are unsure their forces can continue to hold out against the offensive, which has been underway since June in Sangin district in northern Helmand and in neighboring Musa Qala, unless they get more support from national authorities and international forces.
Authorities are particularly worried about Musa Qala, a traditional Taliban stronghold and a source of revenue from the lucrative opium poppy trade.
“The situation is deteriorating and the Taliban are almost in the bazaar,” the governor of Musa Qala district, Haji-Mohammad Sharif, said Friday night. “If the situation remains the same, the district will soon fall to the hands of the Taliban.”
Categories: Asia