The Battle of Lashkargah was a battle between the

Afghan National Security Forces The Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF), also known as the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces (ANDSF), were the military and internal security forces of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. Structure The Afghan National Security Forc ...

(ANSF) and the

Taliban The Taliban (; ps, طالبان, ṭālibān, lit=students or 'seekers'), which also refers to itself by its state (polity), state name, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a Deobandi Islamic fundamentalism, Islamic fundamentalist, m ...

for control of the city of

Lashkargah Lashkargāh ( ps, لښکرګاه; fa, لشکرگاه), historically called Bost or Boost (), is a city in southwestern Afghanistan and the capital of Helmand Province. It is located in Lashkargah District, where the Arghandab River merges into ...

. The

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

supported Afghan forces with airstrikes. The fighting started in late July 2021, and clashes occurred around the governor's residence,

NDS NDS may stand for: * Low German ( nl, Nedersaksisch, links=no, german: Niederdeutsche Sprache, links=no, ISO 639-2 language code: nds), a West Germanic language native to Northern Germany, Denmark and the Netherlands * Lower Saxony (german: Niedersa ...

headquarters, police headquarters, and prison. The police headquarters was captured by the Taliban on 12 August 2021, and the last government forces evacuated or surrendered in the night from 12 to 13 August 2021. More than 40 civilians were also killed in the two weeks long fighting.

Background

Lashkargah, the capital of

Helmand Province Helmand (Pashto/Dari: ; ), also known as Hillmand, in ancient times, as Hermand and Hethumand, is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan Afghanistan is divided into 34 provinces (, '' wilåyat''). The provinces of Afghanistan are the primar ...

, was previously attacked by the Taliban in October of 2020. According to the governor, their attack had been repulsed. Clashes occurred around the city in May 2021. In the weeks leading up to early June, the Taliban conducted several attacks on Lashkargah, mostly around districts 10 and 3 in the city. Those districts briefly fell to the Taliban. In the weeks before the assault on Lashkargah, the local

police forces The police are a constituted body of persons empowered by a state, with the aim to enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citizens, and to prevent crime and civil disorder. Their lawful powers include arrest and th ...

had mostly deserted their posts. As a result, the defense of an area was mostly carried by local, ill-equipped border soldiers. They were mainly motivated by loyalty to their commanding officer Captain Ezzatullah Tofan, instead of allegiance to the central government. By 22 July government forces were pulling troops from Majrah District and

Garmsir District Garmsir District (or Garmser; ps, ګرمسير; from Persian گرمسیر, meaning "hot place") is located in the southern part of Helmand Province, Afghanistan. The district is large, but all the villages are along the Helmand River. The rest is ...

to reinforce Lashkargah, causing those districts to fall to the Taliban.

Battle

The Taliban attacked the city from several directions on 29 July 2021. Around then, the fighting started in Lashkargah, although fighting had been ongoing around it for several weeks. Clashes occurred in the first and seventh district, with government forces holding the ninth. Government reinforcements arrived on 31 July. Taliban and security forces battled near the governor's residence, police headquarters, and

headquarters. On August 2 the Taliban captured the government TV building in Lashkargah. Only one district of the city remained in government control and only Kajaki District was under government control out of all the province's districts. On August 3 Major General Sami Sadat warned the citizens of Lashkar Gah to leave their homes before the ANA beginning clearing operations. On August 4 the Taliban advanced to the guard posts of the police headquarters. The Government deployed more soldiers, including commandos. Later that day, the clearance operation began. The Taliban had been contesting the governor's building, police headquarters, prison, and NDS headquarters. Two days later, an airstrike in Lashkargah killed Mawlawi Mubarak, a commander of the Taliban

Red Group The Red Unit ( ps, سره کیتا, Sara kheta; ur, ), also known as the Blood Unit, Red Group, Danger Group, or Taliban Special Forces Unit, is an elite military unit of the Islamic Emirate Army of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, described ...

elite unit. By this point, the Taliban had seized nine districts. On 9 August, the main fighting was in districts one and two. The Government said its forces had cleared the Taliban from these areas. The Taliban captured the police headquarters on 12 August after a suicide car bombing the previous day. This had been a crucial choke-point. Government security forces retreated to the governor's residence nearby, from where the remaining government forces evacuated by helicopter to

Camp Shorabak Camp Shorabak (formerly Camp Bastion) is a former British Army Military airbase, airbase, located northwest of the city of Lashkargah in Helmand Province, Afghanistan. The camp was situated in a remote desert area, far from population centres. T ...

or surrendered during the night to 13 August, leaving the Taliban in control of the city.

Impact

Between 9 July and 10 August, 183 civilians were killed and 1,181 injured in Lashkargah,

Kandahar Kandahar (; Kandahār, , Qandahār) is a List of cities in Afghanistan, city in Afghanistan, located in the south of the country on the Arghandab River, at an elevation of . It is Afghanistan's second largest city after Kabul, with a population ...

Herat Herāt (; Persian: ) is an oasis city and the third-largest city of Afghanistan. In 2020, it had an estimated population of 574,276, and serves as the capital of Herat Province, situated south of the Paropamisus Mountains (''Selseleh-ye Safēd ...

, and

Kunduz , native_name_lang = prs , other_name = , settlement_type = City , image_skyline = Kunduz River valley.jpg , imagesize = 300 , image_alt = , image_caption = , image_ ...

. 40 civilians had been killed on 3 August. The Emergency Surgical Center inside the city was at 90% capacity on 1 August. The capture of the city was likely a significant morale boost to the Taliban, and a source of income with the province's poppy fields.

References

{{Portal bar, Afghanistan, Modern history, War 2021 in Afghanistan 21st century in Helmand Province August 2021 events in Afghanistan Battles in 2021

July 2021 events in Asia

Background

Battle

Impact

See also

References