AFGHANISTAN. Kabul: For the past weeks, Afghanistan has seen an unprecedented rise in losing their districts to the Taliban. The Afghanistan Interior Ministry has said that it has arrested meditators who have helped to hand over the Afghan security outposts to the Taliban.
Districts occupied by the Taliban
Oba and Farsi in Herat; Shahrak, Tolak, and Saghar in Ghor; Poshtrod and Lash Jawin in Farah, Anar Darra district of Farah province in western Afghanistan fell to the Taliban without any clashes on Monday; Jond and Murghab in Badghis; Shirtagab, Dawlat Abad and Qaisar in Faryab; Sayyad and Sozma Qala in Sar-e-Pul; Burka in Baghlan; Ashkamash in Takhar; Zare in Balkh; Washir in Helmand; Arghistan in Kandahar; Shinkai and Arghandab in Zabul; Chinarto and Gizab in Uruzgan; Duab and Mandol in Nuristan; Arghanchkhaw in Badakhshan; Dahyak, Jaghato, Rashidan and Ab Band in Ghazni; Charkh in Logar; Nerkh and Jalrez in Maidan Wardak and Dawlat Shah in Laghman.
The security agencies said that the government forces have either shifted the centers of the districts or they have made tactical retreats. The Taliban has claimed to have captured over 30 districts. Meanwhile, both sides haven’t released the exact number of casualties yet.
In the meantime, footage went viral on social media showing the Taliban accompanying a convoy of security forces in the Shinkai district of Zabul.
Atta Jan Haqbayan, Zabul provincial council head, posted a video online & claimed that the Taliban took control of an outpost in Shinkai district without any fighting after mediation by elders & local officials. The footage appears to show the Taliban escorting security forces out.
Amrullah Saleh, the First Vice President of Afghanistan, said that the footage was a “pre-planned intelligence secret,” and, in such moments, there is no need to disclose secrets of the operations in the name of freedom of expression and pave the way for the enemy to take advantage of the issue.
Officials confirmed the fall of at least 30 districts’ centers to the Taliban in the last two months. Government forces evacuated them and recaptured some of them after days though.
Recently, security forces reported that they have evacuated the center of Sayyad district in the northern province of Sar-e-Pul and Oba district in the western province of Herat.
“The root causes of why districts started to fall suddenly should be determined. Some districts were handed over to the Taliban in the west without resistance and their equipment was left for militants,” said Sadiq Qaderi, a member of the parliament from Herat.
Mediators
The Interior Ministry said that it has arrested mediators who helped in handing over the Afghan security outposts to the Taliban.
“Elders or others who act as mediators to negotiate between government forces and the Taliban causing security force members to abandon their posts have been arrested, the Ministry of Interior Affairs (MoI) said on Sunday.
“The reason that soldiers leave their outposts is that they are faced with the lack of facilities, equipment, and personnel,” said Shogufa Nawrozi, an MP from Helmand.
Tactical retreats
“The security forces tactically retreated from the center of the district this morning to prevent civilian casualties,” the MoD said.
Afghanistan First Vice President Amrullah Saleh said that the recent advancements by the Taliban are narrow and that this narrow line of the Taliban “will soon be changed into a graveyard” for the group.
“In many areas that have been called a ‘collapse,’ Talib, by creating a narrow line, has progressed. Their sequence has no depth or width. Those who are familiar with the fight against Talib know that this narrow line will turn into a mass grave for this group of horror and ignorance,” Saleh said in a Facebook post.
Taliban, has claimed to have captured the center of the districts of Charkh district in Logar, Do Hab and Mandawil in Nooristan, Farsi in Herat, Da yak in Ghazni, Shinkai in Zabul, and Gizab in Daikundi, and many other districts of the major cities which were “big victory” for them under their operations called “Alfath” literally means the big victory.
Also Read: Exclusive Footage From Kabul Mosque Blast, Four People Have Been Killed
On Wednesday, protestors who are members of the families of a soldier surrounded by soldiers in the Oba districts of Herat opened smoke at the door of the Herat governor’s office to ask the government to convey food to the surrounded forces in the Oba district of Herat and save them. The newly appointed governor of Herat had to meet and hear their demands afterward and pledged to fulfill their demands.
The protestors said that the security forces are eating leaves for days while being surrounded by the Taliban. They said the government deliberately wants to hand over the districts to the Taliban.
Masoud Andrabi, former Interior Minister, in a forum with the Institute of Strategic Studies in Afghanistan, has suggested that the issue of retreat from security forces from some districts is a sensible and reasonable program to prevent more advancement of Taliban toward the big cities and benefit the security forces.
“It is necessary to get out of logistically costly areas when some districts in the hands of the government are not only not beneficial, It’s even trouble for security forces.”
He believes that the success of security forces is too difficult. Because the foreign forces didn’t get out of this exam successfully already.
Comments are closed.