Second Helmand District Falls to Taleban

By IWPR trainees in Helmand (ARR No. 241, 12-Feb-07)
The Taleban captured the police chief of Washir district and 30 of his officers when they were out on patrol Sunday, February 11, according to a high-ranking district official, who wanted his identity withheld.

“They then went to the district centre, where they took control, disarming the rest of the police,” said the official.

A Taleban spokesman in Washir, speaking by satellite phone, confirmed the seizure, but added that Taleban presence in Washir was nothing new.

“We have had control over Washir for some two months now,” said the spokesman, who also wished to remain anonymous.

Washir is a sparsely populated district in Helmand’s northwest corner. Bordering the provinces of Nimroz and Farah, it is home mainly to poppy growers and livestock herders.

The loss of Washir followed close on the collapse of Musa Qala, a district slightly to the south of Washir.

On February 1, the Taleban raised their white banner over the Musa Qala district centre, putting an end to a tenuous and controversial ceasefire agreement, brokered by village elders last October, between the Taleban and the mainly British NATO forces that control the province.

NATO and the Afghan government are reported to be considering their reaction to the Musa Qala takeover, but for now the insurgents remain in control.

Details were scarce on Monday, February 12. Spokesman for the interior ministry Zemerai Bashiry said he had no information on the status of Washir.

Residents were also bewildered by the turn of events.

“I do not know what is going on here,” said Noormahmad, a resident of Washir. “The village is empty, no one is going to the bazaar. We are afraid there will be fighting.”

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