Emboldened Taliban attack capital of western Afghanistan province
IN another brazen attack as US troops and their Western allies depart, Taliban militants tried to overrun the provincial capital of Afghanistan’s western Badghis province on Wednesday.
Local officials confirmed that Taliban fighters attempted to take control of the government facilities in Qala-e Naw, forcing provincial officials to take shelter in an army base inside the city.
It was the first time the Taliban tried to take a city since the start of the official withdrawal of the international forces from the country on May 1.
Details of the events in Qala-e Naw remained murky and local officials were providing con icting reports.
Videos on social media showed Taliban fighters on motorbikes as they entered the city.
Several councilors said that dozens of prisoners escaped from the city’s prison after the Taliban arrived.
Provincial councilor Munisa Qaderi said that many people ed from the chaos to neighbouring Herat province.
It seemed airstrikes in the course of the day slowed down the Taliban advance. The Defense Ministry said the insurgents had suffered a heavy number of casualties.
The militants threatened to overrun the city after they had taken control of all six districts of the province, provincial councillor Abdul Aziz Bek said.
Pro-government forces evacuated the three districts of the province that had remained under government control on Tuesday, Bek added.
He also said that dozens of pro-government troops had been killed, wounded, or taken captive in an ambush by militants during the evacuation from one district, triggering fears in the provincial capital and a loss of morale.
As a result, several highlevel security officials and their troops surrendered to the militants on Tuesday night, according to the officials.
Badghis is a strategicallyimportant province that links western Afghanistan with Faryab province in the north of the country, where the Taliban militants have made significant advances in the past couple of weeks. The province also shares a border with Turkmenistan.
The Taliban attempt to overrun a provincial capital came as a high-level delegation of the Taliban was meeting with some Afghan politicians in Tehran. The meeting was hosted by the Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad arif.
They will touch on the current situation of the country and exchange views on peaceful solution of the issue through talks, a Taliban spokesman Suhail Shaheen tweeted ahead of the meeting.