More than half of Afghanistan's 421 districts and district centres are now in Taliban hands. She said: 'People have no access to any service.' Many of the public buildings have also been badly damaged in the fighting. Ms Faiez said conditions for residents are desperate as they hunker down inside their homes, unable to get supplies or get to hospitals for treatment. Taliban troops are in control of nine of the city's 10 police districts.
In Helmand's provincial capital of Lashkar Gah, Afghanistan's elite commando forces aided by regular troops were trying to dislodge the Taliban but with little success, said Nafeeza Faiez, a provincial council member. The US Air Force continues to aid the Afghan air force's bombing of Taliban targets in southern Helmand and Kandahar provinces as Afghan security forces try to prevent a Taliban takeover. The US Central Command says the withdrawal is more than 95 per cent complete and will be finished by August 31. In recent weeks they have laid siege to several provincial capitals across the country as the last US and Nato troops leave the country. Taliban fighters have swept through large swathes of Afghanistan at surprising speed, initially taking districts, many in remote areas. They requested to remain anonymous fearing retaliation from both sides. Heavy airstrikes were reported by residents of Sheberghan who also said the Taliban had freed prisoners from the city jail. Sheberghan is particularly strategic because it is the stronghold of US allied Uzbek warlord Rashid Dostum, whose militias are among those resurrected to aid the Afghan National Security and Defence Forces. On Friday, the Taliban took control of the southwestern Nimroz provincial capital of Zaranj, where the government says it is still battling insurgents inside the capital.
Several other of the country's 34 provincial capitals are threatened. If the city falls, it will be the second provincial capital in as many days to succumb to the Taliban. The government did not deny politician Mohammad Karim Jawzjani's claim that Taliban fighters had entered Sheberghan, but said the city had not fallen. The final US military personnel are due to be withdrawn from Afghanistan on August 31, which has led to the Taliban offensive. Similarly, another clip on Twitter appeared to show something similar had happened in Zaranj, more than 700 miles away.
It is the second provincial capital to fall to the insurgents over the past 24 hours after Zaranj fell yesterday.Ī video has emerged on social media which appears to show prisoners fleeing in Shiberghan after the Taliban managed to gain control of the prison. The Taliban have been advancing across Afghanistan after the US-led coalition pulled out of the war torn country, leaving the nation's struggling defence forces to deal with the terrorists.Įarlier today, the Taliban captured Sheberghan city in Jawzjan, the area's deputy governor confirmed to AFP. They are being supported by the AC-130 Spectre gunships which are armed with a 25mm Gatling gun, a 40mm Bofors cannon and a 105mm M102 cannon - which can provide pinpoint accurate fire from the air. The Cold War-era strategic bomber first flew in the 1950s but is still used due to its 70,000lb payload and range of more than 8,000 miles. US President Joe Biden has ordered B-52 bombers and Spectre gunships to target Taliban terrorists in Afghanistan who are advancing towards three key cities.
0 kommentar(er)
