Claim and counter-claim over strategic Afghan town and province
- Siege underway at police HQ in Sangin town
- 12,000 NATO troops remain in Afghanistan
- Security situation ‘deteriorating’ – Pentagon
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Afghan forces are struggling to hold the police headquarters in the town of Sangin.
Taliban fighters are besieging the building in the strategically-important town in Afghanistan.
It comes amid conflicting reports about who controls Sangin and the district of the same name.
The Taliban has claimed that it controls both.
However, the governor of Helmand and the local police have dismissed the claim as “totally false”.
Sangin district has changed times several times over the course of the conflict in Afghanistan. The fighting there has claimed many casualties among the Afghan and international forces.
Taliban takes key Sangin locations as British troops deployed to help Afghan forces https://t.co/EqsmLsJj2h
— Pedro Reina Pérez (@pedroreinaperez) 22 Décembre 2015
Read Farewell Kabul to understand why Sangin important – symbolically as place where most Brit troops were lost & economically for drugtrade
— christinalamb (@christinalamb) 22 Décembre 2015
Why is Sangin important?
#SAS 'fighting to stop #Taliban overrunning #Sangin': https://t.co/8VKKI858qN #Afghanistan pic.twitter.com/3OeWq63MhY
— British Forces News (@ForcesNews) 22 Décembre 2015
Sangin district is the former centre of operations for international forces in Afghanistan.
It is on a key supply and communications route.
It is also a main centre for opium production, meaning potential revenue for the Taliban from the drugs trade.
International troops
The NATO-led Resolute Support operation is intended to support Afghan security forces.
An estimated 12,000 foreign troops are deployed in Afghanistan with the international coalition.
Resolute Support replaced the 13-year operation, Enduring Freedom.
More than 900 troops lost their lives during this deployment in Helmand Province, 100 of them British.