TALIBAN KILL 24 AFGHAN COMMANDOS, 5 OFFICERS

KABUL, Afghanistan

At least 24 Afghan commandos and five police officers were killed after they were surrounded by the Taliban in northern Afghanistan on Wednesday, according to local and Afghan military officials. It was a profound blow to the elite force at a time when such troops often serve as the only units keeping the insurgents from capturing more territory.

The vicious battle took place in the early morning hours in a key district of Faryab province. The Taliban seized Dawlat Abad district roughly a week ago — one of the dozens that have fallen since American and international forces began withdrawing from the country last month.

“When the Taliban came to Dawlat Abad, they surrounded the commandos and killed them in less than an hour,” said Mohammad Hakim, a militia commander who escaped the district.

What happened in Faryab is playing out in districts across the country, at an alarming rate. Tolo News, a national media outlet in the country, reported fighting in 80 of Afghanistan’s roughly 400 districts in the country Thursday.

On Thursday alone, the neighboring district of Shirin Tagab fell after Afghan forces there fought for days and ran out of ammunition, said Sebghatullah Selab, the deputy head of the provincial council in Faryab. Mohammad Nader Sayedi, another member of the provincial council, said that several hundred security forces either were captured or surrendered and the Taliban seized more than 100 vehicles and hundreds of weapons.

The tapestry of government defeats and territorial loss has only emboldened the Taliban and called into question Afghanistan’s fate as the United States nears the end of its military involvement in the country after 20 years.

Wednesday’s battle came after a commando force of roughly 50 troops, intermixed with police officers and soldiers, carried out an operation to retake Dawlat Abad district from the Taliban with little coordination with nearby government forces, said an Afghan military official with knowledge of the operation, who was not permitted to speak to the media, quickly routing a contingent of Taliban fighters there.

But several hours later, a much larger Taliban force attacked the elite force from all sides, killing at least 24 commandos and five police officers. Several troops are wounded and missing, the military official said, and despite calls for air support, no aircraft were able to respond in time.