Taliban attack provincial capital and free prisoners
KABUL, AFGHANISTAN » The Taliban pushed their way into a provincial capital in Afghanistan’s northwest Wednesday, freeing prisoners there and threatening to overrun the city itself.
Details were murky from the city, Qala-e-Naw, the capital of Badghis province, where fighting was widespread. Videos posted on social media showed some residents welcoming Taliban fighters on motorbikes as they entered.
“The entire city is under control of the Taliban,” said Abdul Rahim Rahin, a member of parliament from Badghis, although his statement could not be immediately confirmed.
Reports from the city in the afternoon said that airstrikes by the Afghan air force had helped push back the Taliban fighters.
Despite dire reports from the ground, a statement from the Ministry of Defense on Wednesday afternoon said that the Taliban were “fleeing” and that “in the next few hours, all parts of the city will be cleared.”
The assault on Qalae-Naw is the latest in the Taliban’s recent offensive, which began in earnest as U.S. and international forces began withdrawing from the country in May. In the span of just over two months, the Taliban have managed to seize at least 150 of Afghanistan’s roughly 400 districts.
Other provincial capitals in the country’s north long known as an anti-Taliban stronghold are also under siege, with insurgent fighters on the periphery of at least three other important cities.
The Taliban’s recent victories have put the Afghan government in an increasingly difficult position. Hundreds of Afghan troops have surrendered in past months, forfeiting significant amounts of weapons and equipment to the already well-supplied insurgent group. Last week, more than 1,000 Afghan troops fled into neighboring Tajikistan to escape the Taliban advance.
What U.S. forces remain in Afghanistan have provided some assistance, with fleeting air support that now originates from outside the country.
Caught in the middle of this new chapter of the war are civilians, dozens of whom have been wounded and killed along with tens of thousands who have been displaced.
Mohammad Yosouf Farahmand, a doctor in the provincial hospital, said that at least one civilian had been killed during the recent fighting and more than a dozen had been wounded.