Reports of Sangin’s fall are 'complete fabrication,' U.S. military insists: U.S. officials are disputing reports the Taliban have retaken a hotly contested region in the opium-rich Helmand valley, saying local security forces made a planned, deliberate withdrawal from the Sangin district center after months of heavy fighting left their facilities in ruins.
"It is a complete fabrication," Navy Capt. William Salvin, a spokesman for the U.S. military in Kabul, told Military Times on Thursday. "This move has been in the planning for months. ... There is nothing left in the old district center except dirt and rubble."
The Taliban, he added, caused extensive damage to the local bazaar in Sangin, rendering it impossible for citizens to access government officials and services. A new municipal complex has been established about a mile to the south. From there, "the Afghan police can now do their jobs effectively," Salvin said, and the Afghan army elements posted to Sangin are "better positioned to take the fight to the Taliban."
An Afghan defense official echoed those sentiments.
U.S. aircraft were called in to airlift Afghan personnel to the new facility and, once the transfer was complete, destroy remaining structures and inoperable vehicles left behind. And while Afghan officials said they're preparing to mount an offensive aimed at reclaiming lost territory, the Taliban have branded the incident a retreat. Veterans of the war and those who've followed it closely over the years seem to agree, with some openly ridiculing the Americans' explanation of what transpired on Thursday.
