ISLAMABAD: The fighting between the Taliban and a combined force of US-backed Afghan National Army and private militias in northern Afghanistan escalated as the last American and Nato soldiers left Bagram airbase on Friday.
The airbase had been Washington’s nerve centre in the almost two-decade war on terror against militants in the country.
According to Afghan police, at least 32 people, including army soldiers and members of private militias, were killed and many injured in Taliban attacks in Badakhshan and Baghlan provinces in the north on Thursday night.
Amid a surge in militant attacks in the country, Kabul had allowed private militias, described as “public uprising forces”, to fight on the side of the national army against the insurgents.
Quoting police, the Afghan media reported on Friday that the situation in Badakhshan’s Faizabad city and its suburbs was very alarming, and that 28 soldiers and members of the public uprising forces, including its commander, had been killed in attacks on different outposts. Some had been taken hostage by the Taliban.
“Faizabad is faced with the threat of falling to the militants if the Taliban attacks are not pushed back,” police sources said. In Baghlan, five people, including Mohiuddin Paikan Haidari, the head of the education department of Pul-e-Charkhi prison, and two commanders of public uprising forces were killed in Taliban attacks.
The situation is so volatile that General Austin Scott Miller, the commander of American troops in Afghanistan, had recently said recent insurgent territorial gains were concerning and had cautioned the Taliban against attempting to take control of the country by force.
“A military takeover is not in the interest of anyone, certainly not for the people of Afghanistan,” Miller had said. Miller, who oversees the exit of US troops from Afghanistan, also cautioned that pro-government militias being deployed around the country to help the beleaguered Afghan security forces in containing Taliban advances could plunge the country deeper into civil war.
Meanwhile, the Taliban claim to have captured more than 100 of the country’s 419 districts since May 1, when the last remaining US and allied soldiers formally began leaving Afghanistan.
The airbase had been Washington’s nerve centre in the almost two-decade war on terror against militants in the country.
According to Afghan police, at least 32 people, including army soldiers and members of private militias, were killed and many injured in Taliban attacks in Badakhshan and Baghlan provinces in the north on Thursday night.
Amid a surge in militant attacks in the country, Kabul had allowed private militias, described as “public uprising forces”, to fight on the side of the national army against the insurgents.
Quoting police, the Afghan media reported on Friday that the situation in Badakhshan’s Faizabad city and its suburbs was very alarming, and that 28 soldiers and members of the public uprising forces, including its commander, had been killed in attacks on different outposts. Some had been taken hostage by the Taliban.
“Faizabad is faced with the threat of falling to the militants if the Taliban attacks are not pushed back,” police sources said. In Baghlan, five people, including Mohiuddin Paikan Haidari, the head of the education department of Pul-e-Charkhi prison, and two commanders of public uprising forces were killed in Taliban attacks.
The situation is so volatile that General Austin Scott Miller, the commander of American troops in Afghanistan, had recently said recent insurgent territorial gains were concerning and had cautioned the Taliban against attempting to take control of the country by force.
“A military takeover is not in the interest of anyone, certainly not for the people of Afghanistan,” Miller had said. Miller, who oversees the exit of US troops from Afghanistan, also cautioned that pro-government militias being deployed around the country to help the beleaguered Afghan security forces in containing Taliban advances could plunge the country deeper into civil war.
Meanwhile, the Taliban claim to have captured more than 100 of the country’s 419 districts since May 1, when the last remaining US and allied soldiers formally began leaving Afghanistan.
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