Fleeing the encroaching front line in the embattled southern Helmand pro-vince, Hajji Abdul Qudus has moved his family many times this year, ending up at a rented home in Lashkar Gah, the provincial capital.
But his family of nine, and the thousands of others from across the province who have been displaced to the small bastion, fear for the worst: What if Lashkar Gah also falls?
“We don’t feel secure here,” Abdul Qudus said. “The Taliban are not far from the city.” For months, a resurgent Taliban, which is making gains across several districts in Helmand, has been holed up in Lashkar Gah’s suburb of Babaji.
The embarrassing prospect of another urban centre falling to the insurgents, after the northern city of Kunduz this year, has drawn Afghan reinforcements as well as NATO troops back to Helmand to assist in the operations. The coalition forces also cannot afford the loss of Lashkar Gah for its symbolic value: Helmand was at the heart of President Barack Obama’s surge of troops and resources, and it had more coalition casualties than any other Afghan province.
Helmand, the country’s lar-gest province, is a hub of opium production and offers a strategic advantage because of its location on the border with Pakistan, where the Taliban leadership council is based. Control of the area would give the militants supremacy in the drug business and a sanctuary from which to fight the central government.
The insurgents kept their pressure on Helmand for most of the fighting season this year. When NATO troops declared combat over and made the transition to a smaller training and advising mission, the Afghan government was sidetracked by the surprise intensity of fighting in the north of the country. As Kunduz fell and several other urban centres in the north came under fire, resources had to be transferred to meet insurgency’s shift in geographical focus.
But in recent months, the Taliban have once again mounted a bold offensive across Helm-and, overrunning or contesting several districts that had been cleared of their presence, tho-ugh only after many casualties.
The Taliban control the districts of Musa Qala, Nawzad, Baghran and Disho, according to Mohammad Karim Attal, chief of the Helmand Provincial Council. The districts of Sangin, Marjah, Khanishin, Nad Ali and Kajaki have also experienced sustained fighting.
“Overall, two districts of Helmand remain safe with no ongoing fighting, which are the districts of Garmsir and Nawa,” Attal said. “The rest of the districts have either fallen or under threat.” The fighting has displaced more than 7,000 families this year, according to Ghulam Farooq Noorzai, an official who works with refugees.
In the past two months alone, the fighting in the Lashkar Gah suburb of Babaji and the districts of Nad Ali and Marjah has forced 1,879 families to resettle in Lashkar Gah. More than 5,000 other families, many from northern districts that have seen heavy fighting, settled largely in Gereshk district. Now the uptick in violence there is forcing them on the move again.
Battle drawing closer
“There is no work opportunity in Laskhar Gah, and people are living with their relatives and they are becoming a burden,” Noorzai said. “And people are worried and not feeling safe even in Lashkar Gah because the battle is getting closer. We have problems in Babaji, which is a suburb that has turned into a frontline for one-and-a-half months, and the situation is not changing for the better.”
Much of the government’s focus in recent weeks has been Abdul Qudus’ home district of Sangin, which has largely been overrun by the Taliban. After days of Taliban control over the district, Afghan commandos finally seem to be making prog-ress, officials and residents said.
“The Sangin situation is a little bit improved,” Attal said. “The commandos are now fighting with the Taliban and have pushed them out of district compounds.”
After months of surrounding the Sangin district, the Taliban last week overwhelmed it as the police forces and the civilian government retreated to an army base. British forces, and U.S. Special Operations forces already in Helmand, rushed in to give support. The United States also conducted airstrikes.
Bahauddin Khan, a wounded local police commander who was airlifted from the siege by Afghan commandos, said the noose around the district had tightened over the last three months. The commandos struggled to land at the base because of Taliban fire, succeeding only on their third attempt.
“We were fighting with lack of ammunition and on empty stomachs,” said Khan, who lost 18 men. “Our police were really committed to their jobs and were defending the district, but one post fell after another because of a lack of attention and finally Taliban got the courage to attack the bazaar.”
At first, the Taliban pushed the police from their posts to the police headquarters, but the insurgents also managed to climb the security towers at the headquarters. From there they inflicted heavy casualties.
“We did not even have first-aid medication — just bandage to wrap the wounds,” Khan said, “I saw six police die before us due to bleeding.”