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Afghan official: Taliban closing in on key city in the south

FILE - In this July 24, 2016 file photo, Afghan police soldiers practice, in Lashkargah, capital of southern Helmand province, Afghanistan. Kareem Atal, head of the provincial council, said Wednesday, Aug. 10, 2016, that troops are being deployed to a key southern city in Helmand province where fighting is raging with the Taliban to ensure it does not fall to the insurgents. Helmand is a strategically important province for both the Kabul government and the Taliban, whose insurgency is now in its 15th year. (AP Photos/Abdul Khaliq, File)
FILE - In this July 24, 2016 file photo, Afghan police soldiers practice, in Lashkargah, capital of southern Helmand province, Afghanistan. Kareem Atal, head of the provincial council, said Wednesday, Aug. 10, 2016, that troops are being deployed to a key southern city in Helmand province where fighting is raging with the Taliban to ensure it does not fall to the insurgents. Helmand is a strategically important province for both the Kabul government and the Taliban, whose insurgency is now in its 15th year. (AP Photos/Abdul Khaliq, File)

By Associated Press 3 min read

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AP) – Afghan troops are being deployed to the capital of the key southern province of Helmand amid intense fighting with the Taliban in surrounding areas and fears the city could fall to the insurgents within days, officials said Wednesday.

According to Kareem Atal, the head of Helmand’s provincial council, Taliban insurgents have completely surrounded Lashkar Gah after weeks of intense fighting across the province. Army and police units have now been pulled back from checkpoints farther afield and brought back to reinforce the city. Also, “new forces are arriving” in the city, he added.

The fighting has closed all the highways leading into Lashkar Gah, forcing up prices for food and other basics inside the provincial capital, Atal said.

Doctors Without Borders, the international medical charity, has reduced its international staff in Lashkar Gah and is maintaining basic emergency and surgical services, said the country representative Guillem Molinie.

The charity, known by its French acronym MSF, has a 300-bed hospital in the city and usually functions with 25 international staff. Molinie would not say how many staff had been evacuated.