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KABUL, Afghanistan About an hour after the sun roseon Friday, some 200 Afghan soldiers two companies belonging to the5th Battalion, 7th Brigade of theAfghan Border Police holding court inZibakDistrict ofBadakhshanProvince in the farnortheastern corner of Afghanistan were barraged from all four sides by an estimated 1,500 terrorists.

"They suddenly just surrounded us," commanding officer ColonelMohammad Nadertold Fox News on Tuesday,adding that his 5th Battaliongenerally operates out ofKunduz,but a few months ago deployed toBadakhshanto offer support as insurgency there swelled.

Such surprise assaults are hardly unusual, but this one seemingly smallbattlein a longwar could prove to be a major strategic loss forU.S-backed Afghanistan.

Outnumbered and outgunned on Friday, the Afghan forces repelled the enemy fighters several times, seeking support from higher ups that Nader claims never came. Fearing a complete bloodbath and with morale fast falling, the colonel ordered his men to retreat. With that, he continued, they had no choice but to abandon their military vehicles and much of their ammunition and flee as the enemy moved in.

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With little food or water, and that sunken feeling of having been forgotten by the leaders for whom you fight for, the down-trodden forces embarked on what would prove to be a tortuous three-day expedition. Already at 8,500-feetaltitude,and then ascendingto10,000 feet andslogging30 miles through uninhabitable frozen terrain, Nader said 20 soldiers "died or disappeared" along the trek.

On Monday, the remaining made it to theIshkashamregion ofBadakhshanand instantly came under enemy assault calling on locals to help defendtheir beleaguered group.

As of today, the Afghansoldiershave established a newfront line of sorts runningthrough a stretch of small villages.Nader emphasized that there are only a couple of hundred of them armed with light weapons and stretched thin along the porous, almost four-milefrontline.

What's more, he lamentedthatthey are without appropriate cold weather clothing and weapon supplies. But just how long they can keep the muchbetterequipped enemy out, Nader does not know.

"We don't care about food, we just want what we need to survive," he contended. "And it will be a big problem if the terrorists capture this area."

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Commander Ahmad Muslem Hayat, a former Mujahideen army chief and later military attach for Afghanistan's British Embassy, stressed the strategic importance of this land parcel, which is nestled between Tajikstan and northern Pakistan, and edging the province's border with China.

"During the Soviet war, we built this road running fromChitral in Pakistanstraight toZibak,so we had an effectivesupply and logistics route," he explained. "If this road falls,itwould be aterrible loss logistically and economically. The Taliban and ISIS wouldget everything they need from Pakistan andother neighbors."

Also, it would cut off theBadakhshanpeninsula, and vital trade partner China,from the rest of Afghanistan.

Despite the oft-cited narrative of the Taliban and ISIS frequently turning their weapons on one another, Nader insisted that attacks against government troops in the region are often coordinated between these factions, and that the initial assaulton Fridayinvolvedboth parties as well asAl Qaeda and Uzbek elements. He also said that such co-operation continues at their new post.

"We are fighting all of them now," he said. "The Taliban are usually the ones on the mountain and ISIS and foreign fighters are below in thevalleys."

Back in theirorigin ofZibak,a small group ofAfghan Special Forces Commandos havesince arrived in an attempt to recapture the region fromtheterrorists. Several airstrikesare said to have been conducted.

Three years ago, the northeastern region was relatively stable thus resources were increasingly diverted to the terroriststeeming southeast and east. But in recent months especially, the security situation here has sharply deteriorated symptomatic of much of the conflict-riddencountry.

I hope Resolute Support(the NATO mission in Afghanistan)recognizes the strategic importance of this battle, information analyst and former Marine, Will Semmes, observed from Kabul this week. It is indicative of the current state of Afghan military command-and-control and a lossof this key areawould further embolden the Taliban and their hosts in Pakistan. Theres a reason thousands of Afghan soldiers are being killed every year.

According to a new report from the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR),at least 6,785 Afghan soldiers were killed last year, with an additional 807 casualties in the first six weeks of this year.

The Pentagon is subsequently mulling the deployment of5,000 moreUStroops to assist with the gravescenario.

Former Afghanistan Vice President Ahmed ZiaMassoudtold Fox News that it's not unusual for national fighters to endure some 100 deaths a day.

"TheU.Shas given us a lot, but theAfghanleadership and corruption remains bad," he added. "And we are seeing that reflected in our worsening security situation."

Hollie McKay has been a FoxNews.com staff reporter since 2007. She has reported extensively from the Middle East on the rise and fall of terrorist groups such as ISIS in Iraq. Follow her on twitter at @holliesmckay

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One small battle could lead to massive strategic loss in Afghanistan - Fox News