Afghan flag flies over captured Taliban stronghold

By Hamid Shalizi

KABUL (Reuters) - The Afghan flag was flying over the town of Musa Qala on Wednesday, the Defence Ministry said, after five days of fighting to retake the only town in Afghanistan that had been controlled by Taliban insurgents.

Musa Qala, in the southern province of Helmand, took on a symbolic importance after the Taliban seized it in February following the breakdown of a much-criticised local truce that allowed besieged British troops to pull out of the town in October last year.

British and U.S. troops launched the offensive on the outskirts of Musa Qala on Friday, opening the way for Afghan forces to move in and retake the town, one of the biggest operations carried out by the fledgling Afghan army so far.

"The victorious national flag of Afghanistan was raised at full mast in Musa Qala and Afghan forces are present in the centre of the town," the Defence Ministry said in a statement.

"The terrorists suffered heavy losses during the operation," it said.

But beyond demonstrating the progress made by the Afghan army and the psychological boost from recapturing a town previously lost, security analysts say Musa Qala, in the north of the desert province, has little strategic value and its capture does not affect the Taliban's ability to launch guerrilla strikes.

TALIBAN HIT BACK

As if to demonstrate that point, the Taliban counter-attacked near Sangin, further south in Helmand, a town captured by British forces in April in an offensive to relieve British troops under siege in the town hall there for more than nine months.