The Taliban have captured a key district in their former bastion of Kandahar after fierce night-time fighting with Afghan government forces, officials said Sunday, sending many families fleeing from the world.
The insurgents have pressed on with their campaign to capture territory across Afghanistan’s rural areas since early May when the US military began its final pullout of troops from the violence-wracked country.
The fall of the Panjwai district within the southern province of Kandahar comes just two days after US and NATO forces vacated their main Bagram air station near Kabul, from where they led operations for 2 decades against the Taliban and their al-Qaeda allies.
Over the years, the Taliban and Afghan forces have regularly clashed in and around Panjwai, with the insurgents getting to seize it given its proximity to Kandahar city, the capital.
The leader of the Taliban, Hibatullah Akhundzada, hails from Panjwai. The province of Kandahar is that the birthplace of the Taliban, who went on to rule Afghanistan with a harsh version of Islamic shariah until being overthrown by a US-led invasion in 2001. Panjwai district governor Hasti Mohammad said Afghan forces and therefore the Taliban clashed during the night, leading to government forces retreating from the world. “The Taliban have captured the district police station and governor´s office block,” he said.
Kandahar provincial council head Sayed Jan Khakriwal confirmed the autumn of Panjwai, but accused government forces of “intentionally withdrawing”. many families of Panjwai fled their homes after the Taliban captured the district, an AFP correspondent reported. “The Taliban fired on our car as I used to be fleeing with my family. a minimum of five bullets hit my car,” Giran, a resident of Panjwai told AFP as he took refuge in Kandahar city. “The Taliban are on top of the mountains and firing at any moving vehicles. The Taliban don´t want peace.”
Assadullah, a commander of border police within the area, said it had been only the police that was fighting against the insurgents. “The army and therefore the commandos who have better military equipment aren’t fighting in the least,” he said.
Panjwai is that the fifth district in Kandahar province to fall to the insurgents in recent weeks. afterward, Sunday, the secretary of Kandahar´s governor was killed when a bomb attached to his car blew up near their office compound, the Ministry of Interior said.
Fighting has raged across several provinces of Afghanistan and therefore the Taliban claim to possess seized quite 100 out of nearly 400 districts within the country. Afghan officials dispute the claims but acknowledge that government troops have retreated from some districts. it’s difficult to independently verify things.
Experts say that one of the most reasons for state forces to lose dozens of districts is that the lack of folks’ air support in recent weeks. “The withdrawal folks forces has emboldened the Taliban as we will see from the escalation of violence,” said Afghan political analyst Ramish Salimi.
But Interior Minister Abdul Satar Mirzakwal said the Afghan air force was able to combat the Taliban. “We will defend against them with all our power… we are becoming ready for offensives soon,” he told the country´s leading broadcaster, Tolo News. “The cities are our red lines,” indicating that security forces will fiercely guard the country´s urban centers.
