Kabul — The Taliban captured a key district in Afghanistan’s southern Helmand province on Thursday while in the country’s north, an officer turned his rifle on sleeping colleagues, killing nine policemen, officials said.

The fall of Sangin district, once considered the deadliest battlefield for British and U.S. troops in Afghanistan, comes amid the insurgents’ year-long push to expand their footprint in the Taliban heartland of Helmand.

Since the withdrawal of foreign NATO combat troops from Afghanistan at the end of 2014, and with only a smaller, U.S.-led advise and training mission left behind, Sangin has been seen as a major tests of whether Afghan security forces can hold off advancing Taliban fighters.

The district’s police chief, Mohammad Rasoul, said the Taliban overran Sangin centre early on Thursday morning.

Taliban spokesman Qari Yousuf Ahmadi, also issued a statement claiming the Taliban capture of Sangin.

Speaking to The Associated Press over the phone from several kilometres away from the district centre, Rasoul said the district headquarters had been poorly protected and that at the time of the Taliban siege, only eight policemen and 30 Afghan soldiers were on duty.

Afghan security forces were now amassing nearby for a full-scale counter-attack in a bid to retake Sangin, Rasoul added, though he did not say when the assault would occur and how many forces would be involved.

“We are preparing our reinforcements to recapture the district,” Rasoul said.

It wasn’t immediately clear whether the Afghan military would seek the help of international coalition forces in the area.

In Kabul, a lawmaker from Sangin, Mohammad Hashim Alokzai, urged the military to move quickly to retake the district, saying its fall could have devastating consequences for Helmand, where the provincial capital of Lashkar Gah has in the past months also come under constant and heavy attack by the Taliban.

In northern Kunduz province, police spokesman Mafuz Akbari said the insider attack on Thursday that claimed the lives on nine policemen took place at a security post and that the assailant escaped under the cover of darkness.

Afghanistan has seen a spike in so-called insider attacks. In such incidents, attackers who turn their rifles and kill colleagues usually end up stealing their weapons and fleeing the scene to join insurgents.

Akbari said the assailant had gone over to the Taliban. He also claimed that the attacker and the Taliban gathered the bodies of the dead policemen and set them on fire.

Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahed claimed responsibility for the attack, but denied that a policeman had been involved or that the Taliban had burned the bodies of the policemen.

The conflicting accounts could not be immediately reconciled. The region is remote and not accessible to reporters.

Afghan forces have come under intensified pressure by insurgents in both Helmand and Kunduz.</s>Afghan forces in the strategic town of Sangin in Helmand province have withdrawn from its center, effectively ceding territory to the Taliban and delivering a blow to the Afghan government and its coalition partners.

The NATO-led Resolute Support mission said Wednesday the forces had moved two kilometers south (1.2 miles) of the administrative center in a planned strategic maneuver, while a provincial spokesman said the withdrawal was to prevent civilian casualties.

It is unclear how much of Sangin district is in Taliban hands, with conflicting reports of how much, and why, territory had been ceded.

The Taliban released a statement celebrating control of the whole district while the country’s Ministry of Defense denied the government had ceded any territory.

The move comes after months of attacks by the Taliban on the district, which was held by British and then US troops before being returned to Afghan military control after the end of formal combat operations in 2014.

The town is in the heartland of Taliban territory and a key opium poppy-producing region, and a major route for the Taliban opium trade. As spring begins, poppy production in the province is once again rising.

It was defended by coalition troops at great human cost — during coalition military control of the country scores were killed holding it, including around 100 British soldiers prior to the US assuming control of its defense. Hundreds of Afghan soldiers have died in recent fighting there.

CNN security analyst Rick Francona says the retreat — or redeployment — from the key town is an indication that the war in Afghanistan is getting worse.

“The Afghan army is in terrible shape. Anyone looking at this impartially is saying this is not working,” he said. “The Taliban have popular support, the government in Kabul don’t. The further away from Kabul you get the worse it becomes.”

The Resolute Support statement called the move a strategic maneuver that had been planned for “some time.” It added that the existing security forces HQ buildings had been extensively damaged through engagements with the Taliban, prompting the move.

The statement said US forces assisted with the move and helped to destroy buildings and vehicles at the former headquarters.

“The (Afghan National Defense and Security Forces) defended the district center for two months and left on their terms,” it says. “The only thing they left to the Taliban is rubble and dirt.”

A Helmand provincial spokesman, Omar Zwak, told CNN that the move was made to prevent civilian casualties.

He said Friday that Afghan security forces have taken the necessary preparations to recapture the area from the Taliban and that operation would begin Friday.

The Taliban claimed it had assumed control over the entire district.

“After a month of battle, (the Taliban) captured the entire district including Sangin district center, police headquarter and other key outposts,” Taliban spokesman, Qari Yousof Ahmadi, said in a statement.

The Afghan Ministry of Defense denied that any territory had been lost, calling the Taliban claims “baseless” and the “propaganda of enemies.”

“The district is not facing any security problem our routine operations are going on in the district to eliminate the enemies,” a statement said.

The US believes the Taliban have stepped up fighting across Helmand as the poppy harvest season approaches — the trade in heroin is a major currency earner for the group.

The current estimate by the US is there are 30,000 Taliban in Afghanistan, although not all are active fighters.

A fertile region that is a key location in Afghanistan’s poppy trade, Sangin lies in the south of the country in an area that has traditionally been a Taliban heartland.

Gen. John Nicholson, the commander of US forces in Afghanistan, told reporters in December last year that the Taliban “receive much of their funding from the narcotics trafficking that occurs out of Helmand,” adding that “there’s a nexus here between the insurgency and criminal networks that’s occurring in Helmand that makes Helmand such a difficult fight.”

US Central Command has announced that approximately 300 Marines will deploy to Helmand this spring, returning to the scene of some of the fiercest battles in America’s 15-year-long engagement there.

However, Francona thinks the government, with or without US help, will never eradicate the drug trade in the sparsely populated region.

“There’s so much money there (from drug producing and smuggling) and it’s naive to think that we’re going to affect that,” he says.

“We’re going to have to come to some accommodation (with the opium trade).”</s>KABUL, March 23 (Reuters) - Taliban fighters have captured the key district of Sangin in the southern Afghan province of Helmand after security forces pulled out, leaving the district centre to the insurgents, officials said on Thursday.

Helmand, which accounts for the bulk of Afghanistan's billion dollar opium crop, is already largely in the hands of the Taliban but the capture of Sangin, where U.S. and British forces suffered heavy casualties, underlines their growing strength in the south.

Taliban spokesman Qari Yousuf Ahmadi said Taliban fighters had captured police headquarters and a military base overnight, as well as quantities of military equipment after they were abandoned by retreating government forces.

He said the area had been bombarded by foreign forces following the withdrawal of Afghan troops and police, causing heavy damage to buildings and infrastructure.

Omar Zwak, the provincial governor's spokesman, said security forces had conducted a tactical withdrawal some three km from the district centre to avoid civilian casualties.

Abdul Majid Akhondzada, deputy provincial council chief of Helmand, confirmed that after the retreat, air strikes hit the district to destroy military equipment left behind.

With U.S. President Donald Trump yet to announce a new Afghanistan strategy, the loss of Sangin underlines the challenge facing the western-backed government and its international partners.

The top U.S. commander in the country, Gen. John Nicholson, said last month that Afghanistan was in a "stalemate" and thousands more international troops would be needed to boost the existing NATO-led training and advisory mission.

According to U.S. estimates, government forces now control less than 60 percent of Afghanistan, with almost half the country either contested or under the control of the insurgents, who are seeking to reimpose Islamic law after their 2001 ouster. (Reporting by Mohammad Stanekzai and Hamid Shalizi; Wriging by James Mackenzie; Editing by Nick Macfie)</s>KABUL, March 23 (Reuters) - Taliban fighters have captured the strategic district of Sangin in the southern Afghan province of Helmand after security forces pulled out, leaving the district centre to the insurgents, officials said on Thursday.

Helmand, which accounts for the bulk of Afghanistan's billion dollar opium crop, is already largely in the hands of the Taliban but the capture of Sangin, where U.S. and British forces once suffered heavy casualties, underlines their growing strength in the south.

With warmer spring weather beginning, increased fighting is expected across Afghanistan and security officials warn that 2017 may be even tougher than last year, when both Lashkar Gah, the provincial capital of Helmand, and the northern city of Kunduz came close to falling.

Taliban spokesman Qari Yousuf Ahmadi said Taliban fighters had captured police headquarters and a military base overnight, as well as quantities of military equipment after they were abandoned by retreating government forces.

He said the area had been bombarded by foreign forces following the withdrawal of Afghan troops and police, causing heavy damage to buildings and infrastructure.

Omar Zwak, the provincial governor's spokesman, said security forces had conducted a tactical withdrawal some 3 km from the district centre to avoid civilian casualties.

Abdul Majid Akhondzada, deputy provincial council chief of Helmand, confirmed that after the retreat, air strikes hit the district to destroy military equipment left behind.

With U.S. President Donald Trump yet to announce a new Afghanistan strategy, the loss of Sangin underlines the scale of the challenge facing the western-backed government and its international partners, which left Afghan forces fighting largely alone after withdrawing most combat troops in 2014.

The top U.S. commander in the country, Gen. John Nicholson, said last month that Afghanistan was in a "stalemate" and thousands more international troops would be needed to boost the existing NATO-led training and advisory mission.

According to U.S. estimates, government forces control less than 60 percent of Afghanistan, with almost half the country either contested or under the control of the insurgents, who are seeking to reimpose Islamic law after their 2001 ouster.

However, while the Taliban control large areas of the countryside, they have so far failed to capture and hold any provincial capital for more than brief periods.

In Kunduz, which briefly fell to the Taliban in 2015, the insurgents control areas around the city and government rule is precarious. On Thursday, in the latest insider attack, a rogue local policeman killed nine of his colleagues at a security outpost, officials said.

Heavy fighting has also been reported near Tarin Kot, the provincial capital of Uruzgan in south-central Afghanistan, which almost fell to Taliban fighters last year. (Reporting by Mohammad Stanekzai and Hamid Shalizi; Writing by James Mackenzie and Tommy Wilkes; Editing by Nick Macfie and Janet Lawrence)</s>Kabul, Afghanistan (CNN) Afghan forces in the strategic town of Sangin in Helmand province have withdrawn from its center, effectively ceding territory to the Taliban and delivering a blow to the Afghan government and its coalition partners.

The NATO-led Resolute Support mission said Wednesday the forces had moved two kilometers south (1.2 miles) of the administrative center in a planned strategic maneuver, while a provincial spokesman said the withdrawal was to prevent civilian casualties.

It is unclear how much of Sangin district is in Taliban hands, with conflicting reports of how much, and why, territory had been ceded.

The Taliban released a statement celebrating control of the whole district while the country's Ministry of Defense denied the government had ceded any territory.

The move comes after months of attacks by the Taliban on the district, which was held by British and then US troops before being returned to Afghan military control after the end of formal combat operations in 2014.

The town is in the heartland of Taliban territory and a key opium poppy-producing region, and a major route for the Taliban opium trade. As spring begins, poppy production in the province is once again rising.

It was defended by coalition troops at great human cost -- during coalition military control of the country scores were killed holding it, including around 100 British soldiers prior to the US assuming control of its defense. Hundreds of Afghan soldiers have died in recent fighting there.

CNN security analyst Rick Francona says the retreat -- or redeployment -- from the key town is an indication that the war in Afghanistan is getting worse.

"The Afghan army is in terrible shape. Anyone looking at this impartially is saying this is not working," he said. "The Taliban have popular support, the government in Kabul don't. The further away from Kabul you get the worse it becomes."

The Resolute Support statement called the move a strategic maneuver that had been planned for "some time." It added that the existing security forces HQ buildings had been extensively damaged through engagements with the Taliban, prompting the move.

The statement said US forces assisted with the move and helped to destroy buildings and vehicles at the former headquarters.

"The (Afghan National Defense and Security Forces) defended the district center for two months and left on their terms," it says. "The only thing they left to the Taliban is rubble and dirt."

A Helmand provincial spokesman, Omar Zwak, told CNN that the move was made to prevent civilian casualties.

He said Friday that Afghan security forces have taken the necessary preparations to recapture the area from the Taliban and that operation would begin Friday.

The Taliban claimed it had assumed control over the entire district.

"After a month of battle, (the Taliban) captured the entire district including Sangin district center, police headquarter and other key outposts," Taliban spokesman, Qari Yousof Ahmadi, said in a statement.

The Afghan Ministry of Defense denied that any territory had been lost, calling the Taliban claims "baseless" and the "propaganda of enemies."

"The district is not facing any security problem our routine operations are going on in the district to eliminate the enemies," a statement said.

The US believes the Taliban have stepped up fighting across Helmand as the poppy harvest season approaches -- the trade in heroin is a major currency earner for the group.

The current estimate by the US is there are 30,000 Taliban in Afghanistan, although not all are active fighters.

A fertile region that is a key location in Afghanistan's poppy trade, Sangin lies in the south of the country in an area that has traditionally been a Taliban heartland.

US Central Command has announced that approximately 300 Marines will deploy to Helmand this spring, returning to the scene of some of the fiercest battles in America's 15-year-long engagement there.

However, Francona thinks the government, with or without US help, will never eradicate the drug trade in the sparsely populated region.

"There's so much money there (from drug producing and smuggling) and it's naive to think that we're going to affect that," he says.

"We're going to have to come to some accommodation (with the opium trade)."</s>KABUL, Afghanistan – The Taliban captured a key district center in Afghanistan’s southern Helmand province on Thursday while in the country’s north, an officer turned his rifle on sleeping colleagues, killing nine policemen, officials said.

The fall of Sangin district, once considered the deadliest battlefield for British and U.S. troops in Afghanistan, comes amid the insurgents’ year-long push to expand their footprint in the Taliban heartland of Helmand.

The British who took over southern Helmand in 2006 were headquartered at Camp Sebastian, which at its peak was the center for 137 bases in Helmand. Most of Britain’s more than 400 military deaths occurred in Helmand province — in Sangin alone, Britain lost 104 soldiers.

Since the withdrawal of foreign NATO combat troops from Afghanistan at the end of 2014, and with only a smaller, U.S.-led advise and training mission left behind, Sangin has been seen as a major tests of whether Afghan security forces can hold off advancing Taliban fighters.

The district’s police chief, Mohammad Rasoul, said the Taliban overran Sangin center early on Thursday morning.

Taliban spokesman Qari Yousuf Ahmadi, also issued a statement claiming the Taliban capture of Sangin.

Speaking to The Associated Press over the phone from several kilometers (miles) away from the district center, Rasoul said the district headquarters had been poorly protected and that at the time of the Taliban siege, only eight policemen and 30 Afghan soldiers were on duty.

Afghan security forces were now amassing nearby for a full-scale counter-attack in a bid to retake Sangin, Rasoul added, though he did not say when the assault would occur and how many forces would be involved.

“We are preparing our reinforcements to recapture the district,” Rasoul said.

It wasn’t immediately clear whether the Afghan military would seek the help of international coalition forces in the area.

NATO spokesman William Salvin said in a statement that Afghan troops remained in Sangin district but had relocated several kilometers (miles) outside the district center. He said the relocation was necessitated because of the extensive damage to the district center by the Taliban.

In Kabul, a lawmaker from Sangin, Mohammad Hashim Alokzai, urged the military to move quickly to retake the district, saying its fall could have devastating consequences for Helmand, where the provincial capital of Lashkar Gah has in the past months also come under constant and heavy attack by the Taliban.

“The seizure of Sangin is a major tactical triumph for the Taliban,” Michael Kugelman, senior associate for South Asia at the U.S.-based Wilson Center, said Thursday. The insurgent group “has taken over a major urban space in one of its major stronghold provinces, amplifying the major threat that the group poses to Afghanistan nearly 16 years after it was removed from power.”

Sangin is also one of the biggest opium markets in Afghanistan, which saw over 4,800 metric tons produced countrywide in 2016 — more than all other opium-producing countries combined, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crimes. Efforts at poppy eradication in Afghanistan have been severely restricted because of the insecurity in the southern and eastern regions of the country, where the bulk of the crop is grown.

Opium, which is used to make heroin, is a major source of income for the insurgents and the Taliban levy taxes on opium that moves through its territory.

“It’s hard to overestimate the significance of Helmand — it’s strategically located near Pakistan, it’s a bastion of the opium trade,” said Kugelman. “Perhaps the biggest reason why the British focused so much on Sangin is that they had invested so much over the years in trying to stabilize the place — and had suffered many combat deaths in the process.”

In northern Kunduz province, police spokesman Mafuz Akbari said the insider attack on Thursday that claimed the lives on nine policemen took place at a security post and that the assailant escaped under the cover of darkness.

Afghanistan has seen a spike in so-called insider attacks. In such incidents, attackers who turn their rifles and kill colleagues usually end up stealing their weapons and fleeing the scene to join insurgents.

Akbari said the assailant had gone over to the Taliban. He also claimed that the attacker and the Taliban gathered the bodies of the dead policemen and set them on fire.

Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahed claimed responsibility for the attack, but denied that a policeman had been involved or that the Taliban had burned the bodies of the policemen.

The conflicting accounts could not be immediately reconciled. The region is remote and not accessible to reporters.

Afghan forces have come under intensified pressure by insurgents in both Helmand and Kunduz.</s>The Taliban have captured a key district in Afghanistan’s southern Helmand province, officials said.

Meanwhile, in the country’s north, an officer turned his rifle on sleeping colleagues, killing nine policemen.

The fall of Sangin district, once considered the deadliest battlefield for British and US troops in Afghanistan, comes amid the insurgents’ year-long push to expand their footprint in the Taliban heartland of Helmand.

Since the withdrawal of foreign Nato combat troops from Afghanistan at the end of 2014, and with only a smaller, US-led advice and training mission left behind, Sangin has been seen as a major tests of whether Afghan security forces can hold off advancing Taliban fighters.

More British and later American marines died in Sangin than in any of Afghanistan’s roughly 400 other districts, until the international military coalition finally turned it over to Afghan military forces.

The district’s police chief, Mohammad Rasoul, said the Taliban overran Sangin centre early on Thursday morning.

Taliban spokesman Qari Yousuf Ahmadi also issued a statement claiming the Taliban capture of Sangin.

Speaking to the Associated Press, Mr Rasoul said the district headquarters had been poorly protected and that at the time of the Taliban siege only eight policemen and 30 Afghan soldiers were on duty.

Afghan security forces were now amassing nearby for a full-scale counter-attack in a bid to retake Sangin, he added, though he did not say when the assault would occur and how many forces would be involved.

“We are preparing our reinforcements to recapture the district,” he said.

It was not immediately clear whether the Afghan military would seek the help of international coalition forces in the area.

In Kabul, a politician from Sangin, Mohammad Hashim Alokzai, urged the military to move quickly to retake the district, saying its fall could have devastating consequences for Helmand, where the provincial capital of Lashkar Gah has in the past months also come under constant and heavy attack by the Taliban.

In northern Kunduz province, police spokesman Mafuz Akbari said the insider attack on Thursday that claimed the lives on nine policemen took place at a security post and that the assailant escaped under the cover of darkness.

Afghanistan has seen a surge in so-called insider attacks. In such incidents, attackers who turn their rifles and kill colleagues usually end up stealing their weapons and fleeing the scene to join insurgents.

Mr Akbari said the assailant had gone over to the Taliban. He also claimed that the attacker and the Taliban gathered the bodies of the dead policemen and set them on fire.

Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahed claimed responsibility for the attack, but denied that a policeman had been involved or that the Taliban had burned the officers’ bodies.

The conflicting accounts could not be immediately reconciled. The region is remote and not accessible to reporters.

Afghan forces have come under intensified pressure by insurgents in both Helmand and Kunduz.</s>KABUL: Taliban fighters have captured the key district of Sangin in the southern Afghan province of Helmand after security forces pulled out, leaving the district centre to the insurgents, officials said on Thursday.

Helmand, which accounts for the bulk of Afghanistan's billion dollar opium crop, is already largely in the hands of the Taliban but the capture of Sangin, where U.S. and British forces suffered heavy casualties, underlines their growing strength in the south.

Taliban spokesman Qari Yousuf Ahmadi said Taliban fighters had captured police headquarters and a military base overnight, as well as quantities of military equipment after they were abandoned by retreating government forces.

He said the area had been bombarded by foreign forces following the withdrawal of Afghan troops and police, causing heavy damage to buildings and infrastructure.

Omar Zwak, the provincial governor's spokesman, said security forces had conducted a tactical withdrawal some three km from the district centre to avoid civilian casualties.

Abdul Majid Akhondzada, deputy provincial council chief of Helmand, confirmed that after the retreat, air strikes hit the district to destroy military equipment left behind.

With U.S. President Donald Trump yet to announce a new Afghanistan strategy, the loss of Sangin underlines the challenge facing the western-backed government and its international partners.

The top U.S. commander in the country, Gen. John Nicholson, said last month that Afghanistan was in a "stalemate" and thousands more international troops would be needed to boost the existing NATO-led training and advisory mission.

According to U.S. estimates, government forces now control less than 60 percent of Afghanistan, with almost half the country either contested or under the control of the insurgents, who are seeking to reimpose Islamic law after their 2001 ouster.</s>Kabul, Afghanistan (CNN) Afghan forces in the strategic town of Sangin in Helmand province have withdrawn from its center, effectively ceding territory to the Taliban and delivering a blow to the Afghan government and its coalition partners.

The NATO-led Resolute Support mission said Wednesday the forces had moved two kilometers south (1.2 miles) of the administrative center in a planned strategic maneuver, while a provincial spokesman said the withdrawal was to prevent civilian casualties.

It is unclear how much of Sangin district is in Taliban hands, with conflicting reports of how much, and why, territory had been ceded.

The Taliban released a statement celebrating control of the whole district while the country's Ministry of Defense denied the government had ceded any territory.

The move comes after months of attacks by the Taliban on the district, which was held by British and then US troops before being returned to Afghan military control after the end of formal combat operations in 2014.

Shamsullah Sahrahi, a resident of the district, said that the problems that Sangin's population face have been present since the exit of US troops.

"Most of the (district's) residents are living in poverty," he told CNN. "People cannot feed their families properly, the price of commodities has increased and the number of causalities from the recent fights are too high. People have lost their homes.

"The central government does not operate properly in our district, they do not have a proper strategy to recapture the areas which have fallen to the Taliban."

He said that the number of Taliban based in Sangin was not too high, but they relied on support from militants from other districts.

The town is in the heartland of Taliban territory and a key opium poppy-producing region, and a major route for the Taliban opium trade. As spring begins, poppy production in the province is once again rising.

It was defended by coalition troops at great human cost -- during coalition military control of the country scores were killed holding it, including around 100 British soldiers prior to the US assuming control of its defense. Hundreds of Afghan soldiers have died in recent fighting there.

CNN security analyst Rick Francona says the retreat -- or redeployment -- from the key town is an indication that the war in Afghanistan is getting worse.

"The Afghan army is in terrible shape. Anyone looking at this impartially is saying this is not working," he said. "The Taliban have popular support, the government in Kabul don't. The further away from Kabul you get the worse it becomes."

The Resolute Support statement called the move a strategic maneuver that had been planned for "some time." It added that the existing security forces HQ buildings had been extensively damaged through engagements with the Taliban, prompting the move.

The statement said US forces assisted with the move and helped to destroy buildings and vehicles at the former headquarters.

"The (Afghan National Defense and Security Forces) defended the district center for two months and left on their terms," it says. "The only thing they left to the Taliban is rubble and dirt."

A Helmand provincial spokesman, Omar Zwak, told CNN that the move was made to prevent civilian casualties.

He said Friday that Afghan security forces have taken the necessary preparations to recapture the area from the Taliban and that operation would begin Friday.

The Taliban claimed it had assumed control over the entire district.

"After a month of battle, (the Taliban) captured the entire district including Sangin district center, police headquarter and other key outposts," Taliban spokesman, Qari Yousof Ahmadi, said in a statement.

The Afghan Ministry of Defense denied that any territory had been lost, calling the Taliban claims "baseless" and the "propaganda of enemies."

"The district is not facing any security problem our routine operations are going on in the district to eliminate the enemies," a statement said.

The US believes the Taliban have stepped up fighting across Helmand as the poppy harvest season approaches -- the trade in heroin is a major currency earner for the group.

The current estimate by the US is there are 30,000 Taliban in Afghanistan, although not all are active fighters.

A fertile region that is a key location in Afghanistan's poppy trade, Sangin lies in the south of the country in an area that has traditionally been a Taliban heartland.

US Central Command has announced that approximately 300 Marines will deploy to Helmand this spring, returning to the scene of some of the fiercest battles in America's 15-year-long engagement there.

However, Francona thinks the government, with or without US help, will never eradicate the drug trade in the sparsely populated region.

"There's so much money there (from drug producing and smuggling) and it's naive to think that we're going to affect that," he says.

"We're going to have to come to some accommodation (with the opium trade)."</s>Kabul — The Taliban captured a key district in Afghanistan’s southern Helmand province on Thursday while in the country’s north, an officer turned his rifle on sleeping colleagues, killing nine policemen, officials said.

The fall of Sangin district, once considered the deadliest battlefield for British and U.S. troops in Afghanistan, comes amid the insurgents’ year-long push to expand their footprint in the Taliban heartland of Helmand.

Since the withdrawal of foreign NATO combat troops from Afghanistan at the end of 2014, and with only a smaller, U.S.-led advise and training mission left behind, Sangin has been seen as a major tests of whether Afghan security forces can hold off advancing Taliban fighters.

The district’s police chief, Mohammad Rasoul, said the Taliban overran Sangin centre early on Thursday morning.

Taliban spokesman Qari Yousuf Ahmadi, also issued a statement claiming the Taliban capture of Sangin.

Speaking to The Associated Press over the phone from several kilometres away from the district centre, Rasoul said the district headquarters had been poorly protected and that at the time of the Taliban siege, only eight policemen and 30 Afghan soldiers were on duty.

Afghan security forces were now amassing nearby for a full-scale counter-attack in a bid to retake Sangin, Rasoul added, though he did not say when the assault would occur and how many forces would be involved.

“We are preparing our reinforcements to recapture the district,” Rasoul said.

It wasn’t immediately clear whether the Afghan military would seek the help of international coalition forces in the area.

In Kabul, a lawmaker from Sangin, Mohammad Hashim Alokzai, urged the military to move quickly to retake the district, saying its fall could have devastating consequences for Helmand, where the provincial capital of Lashkar Gah has in the past months also come under constant and heavy attack by the Taliban.

In northern Kunduz province, police spokesman Mafuz Akbari said the insider attack on Thursday that claimed the lives on nine policemen took place at a security post and that the assailant escaped under the cover of darkness.

Afghanistan has seen a spike in so-called insider attacks. In such incidents, attackers who turn their rifles and kill colleagues usually end up stealing their weapons and fleeing the scene to join insurgents.

Akbari said the assailant had gone over to the Taliban. He also claimed that the attacker and the Taliban gathered the bodies of the dead policemen and set them on fire.

Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahed claimed responsibility for the attack, but denied that a policeman had been involved or that the Taliban had burned the bodies of the policemen.

The conflicting accounts could not be immediately reconciled. The region is remote and not accessible to reporters.

Afghan forces have come under intensified pressure by insurgents in both Helmand and Kunduz.
Taliban insurgents seize control of the strategic town of Sangin in the southern Helmand Province after a year-long battle with Afghan security forces.