Afghanistan

[Quintus Fabius]

Die Taliban überrennen in Afghanistan in zunehmender Geschwindigkeit strategisch wesentliche Stellungen der Regierungstruppen: zunehmend verweigert dabei die ANA jeden ernsthaften Kampf und numerisch weit unterlegene US Sondereinheiten kämpfen im Endeffekt auf sich allein gestellt gegen eine ständig wachsende Übermacht:

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Bastion on the brink: American Special Forces defend former British HQ as Taliban close in - and Afghan army pays the rebels not to attack

Camp Bastion, in Afghanistan, is in danger of being over-run by the Taliban
Former British Army base is being protected by US Special Forces soldiers
Security source says Afghan army is paying Taliban not to attack the site

Camp Bastion, the former British Army headquarters in Helmand, Afghanistan, is in such danger of being over-run by the Taliban that an American Special Forces team has been deployed to protect it.

In a shocking indictment of how far security has collapsed in the province since Britain handed over the base to the Afghan National Army (ANA) last year, the United States has been forced to use 90 ‘Special Operations’ soldiers to defend the site.

In a further alarming development, a British security source who visited Helmand last week has told The Mail on Sunday that the ANA is now paying the Taliban thousands of US dollars not to attack them – a claim regarded as plausible by military experts.

Camp Bastion was Britain’s largest operational base built anywhere since the Second World War. Initially constructed as an airfield in 2006, it grew to become the size of Reading, had its own Pizza Hut restaurant and was home to thousands of UK troops. The cost to British taxpayers of setting up and running the camp was £20billion.