Afghanistan: Taliban offensive now affects cities across the country
Guard along a road amid fighting between Afghan security forces and the Taliban, in Qala-i-Naw, July 7.
© AFP
Text by: RFI Follow
4 min
This Thursday morning, July 8, fighting opposed the Taliban to the Afghan army in the city of Qala-i-Naw, in the northwest of the country.
It is the first provincial capital to undergo an offensive by the insurgents since the beginning of the last phase of the withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan.
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On Wednesday July 8, just hours after the US military announced that it had completed "
more than 90%
" its withdrawal from Afghanistan, the Taliban, who since May have seized large rural portions of the territory and brought closer to several large towns, entered Qala-i-Naw, a town of about 75,000 inhabitants.
Afghan forces launched a counteroffensive to retake the city.
That same Wednesday, the Taliban released hundreds of inmates from the city jail, and took control of the police station.
On Twitter, Defense Ministry spokesman Fawad Aman said "
new commandos arrived in Badghis last night and will launch a large-scale operation
."
► To read also: Afghanistan: the Taliban are gaining ground and sowing panic among the population
Neighboring provinces affected
According to a security official, the offensive also "
affected neighboring provinces
" including that of Herat, bordering Iran, where the Badghis district fell into the hands of the insurgents overnight.
According to local officials and insurgents, two districts of Herat in all were taken overnight, as the Taliban draw closer to the center of the province.
In a new report, Human Rights Watch documents abuses against the civilian population in Kunduz province. The Taliban reportedly forced around 600 families from their homes in Bagh-e Sherkat. Some were set on fire and looted. According to the NGO, these would be targeted attacks against civilians accused of collaborating with the government.
"
The fighting has caused significant displacement of people, but what we have seen in some areas is a campaign of targeted attacks where the Taliban attack civilians they accuse of cooperating with the government Afghan. And what worries us the most is the risk of a cycle of acts of revenge, murders, fires and looting of homes,
”warns Patricia Gossman, Asia director of Human Rights Watch, at the microphone. by
Jelena Tomic
,
from the International service of RFI.
According to her, “
It has long been a
modus operandi
as many areas are falling into the hands of the Taliban. The province of Kunduz was already under their control twenty years ago. We fear that large-scale acts of retaliation are becoming a reality
.
The Taliban have denied having burned down and looted the houses, but we cannot exclude that commandos may escape the decisions of the local command and we can wonder if they are not acting alone without the backing of their leadership in the offensives. lightning bolts spreading across northern Afghanistan.
"
The Taliban had already briefly attempted in June to attack Kunduz, capital of the province of the same name in the north of the country.
Meanwhile, the withdrawal of troops from Washington continues unabated, despite their inexorable advance across the country and the retreat of Afghan forces.
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Afghanistan
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