Past 24 hours sees fighting in 200 areas in Afghanistan

KABUL (Tolo News): Statistics by the internal security commission of the Wolesi Jirga indicates that the Afghan National Security and Defense Forces (ANDSF) has engaged with the Taliban in 200 points in the past 24 hours.
Meanwhile, Afghanistan’s Ministry of Defense in a statement said that 148 Taliban fighters have been killed in fighting with Afghan security forces, and more than 160 others were wounded. The Taliban claimed to have killed over 50 security force members and wounded dozens more.
The Taliban also claimed that they had taken over a key military base in the Shinkai district of Zabul. In the meantime, footage went viral on social media showing the Taliban apparently accompanying a convoy of security forces in the Shinkai district of Zabul.
Amrullah Saleh, the First Vice President of Afghanistan, said 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. “Thoughtless speakers can say whatever they want. There is no doubt the country is passing through difficult days. At the same time, casualties among the ignorant and abhorrent group (Taliban) are three times higher than our security forces. Do not trust in propaganda,” said Saleh in a Facebook post.
“You must represent the courage and determination of the security and defense forces of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. You must be the spokesmen of the bravery and resistance of the country’s forces. Whatever was written about Zabul so far has not been real,” added Saleh. “The question of why are they accompanying the Taliban, there is something vague behind it politically,” said Nasrullah Ziarmal, a former military officer.
“This shows that the collapse (of the outpost) occurred due to a deal,” said Shabanah Khoshal, a civil society activist in Zabul. “The head of security and the deputy governor went there to help and all the military equipment was left behind for the enemy– this was a political surrender,” said Atta Jan Haqbayan, the head of Zabul provincial council.
The Taliban claimed they have seized all of the entire military equipment from the base. “The equipment left behind is not useable,” said Abdul Matin Hassankhel, deputy commander of the 205 Atal Army Corps. The Taliban also claimed to have taken over a military base in Bagahwi village of Sar-e-Pul province in northern Afghanistan and to have seized over 50 different types of military equipment.
Meanwhile, Sibghatullah Selab, the deputy head of the Faryab provincial council, said that the center of Shireen Tagab district had fallen to the Taliban this afternoon. He said that the Taliban had sent a message to the security forces in the area to lay down their arms and surrender.
According to Selab, the Taliban have transferred the soldiers to an unknown location. He said that the Taliban took 160 pieces of military equipment, including vehicles such as “Humvees and Rangers.” TOLOnews’ reporter did not manage to obtain a comment from the 209 Shaheen Army Corps. Over the past two months, the government has lost 30 districts to the Taliban, which makes up 8 percent of the country.
Previously, the US Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) said that 210 districts, which makes up 54 percent of the entire territory in Afghanistan, are under the control of the government, 132 districts are contested and 46 districts are under Taliban control. The fallen districts are Oba in Herat; Shahrak, Tolak and Saghar in Ghor; Poshtrod and Lash Jawin in Farah; Jond and Murghab in Badghis; 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.
“Those who are planning the war, their planning has lots of shortcomings, supply is not taking place properly,” said Mohammad Radmanish. With the expansion of war in 24 provinces of Afghanistan, the fundamental question is how to prevent the present situation?
“The government should put aside its internal problems and should consult everyone so that we move out of this situation,” said MP Khan Agha Rezayee. In Balkh province, reports say the Taliban has detonated a Humvee full of explosives near the police headquarters in Dawlat Abad. Meanwhile, the Taliban launched an offensive on the Zinda Jan district of Herat in western Afghanistan and managed to burn some parts of the police headquarters after five hours of fierce fighting with Afghan security forces.
Local officials in Herat said the Afghan National Security and Defense Forces (ANDSF) fought bravely and repulsed the Taliban attack. “Lack of coordination between the security forces is a serious problem. There is a need for a unified command and control center to provide morale to the security forces. The Taliban are using these gaps and then launching attacks,” said Ghulam Habib Hashemi, a member of Herat’s security committee. Meanwhile, family members of soldiers stranded in Taliban areas have raised concerns over the soldiers’ health conditions.
“My children are crying the whole day, they ask for their father. My husband has been serving in Oba for three months, he was wounded two times,” said Maryam, the wife of an Afghan Army Officer in Herat. “My cousins, my uncle and my nephew are among the soldiers wounded in Oba, they are stuck there, no one is there to reach out to help them,” said Bashir Ahmad, a relative of a wounded officer in Oba. Local officials in Herat pledged that soon they will transfer the wounded troops from Oba. “We are working to transfer the wounded soldiers from Oba to Herat city and to send additional forces to Oba to control the district,” said Abdul Saboor Qane, the governor of Herat.