In Afghanistan, the Taliban take a key area near Kandahar

Published on : 07/05/2021 – 07:46Modified : 07/05/2021 – 07:47

The Taliban continue to regain ground in Afghanistan. They seized, Sunday, July 4, the key district of Panjwai, in the south of the country, after night fighting. A takeover that prompted dozens of families to flee the area.

Since Washington began, the 1^er May, the repatriation of its soldiers from Afghanistan, at the end of 20 years of war, the Taliban intensified their offensives against the Afghan forces to take control of many rural areas across the country.

Located about fifteen kilometers from the city of Kandahar – the provincial capital -, Panjwai was for a long time a Taliban center and the scene for years of major fighting between rebels and NATO troops. The leader of the Taliban, Hibatullah Akhundzada, is also from this key district.

The capture of Panjwai comes two days after the departure of American and NATO troops from Bagram, their most important base in Afghanistan, located 50 km north of Kabul and the nerve center of coalition operations against Islamist insurgents. Last 20 years.

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According to the district governor of Panjwai, Hasti Mohammad, Taliban and Afghan forces clashed overnight from Saturday to Sunday, before the latter left the area. “The Taliban seized the police headquarters in the district and the governorate building,” he told AFP.

Kandahar Provincial Council Chairman Jan Khakriwal confirmed Panjwai’s downfall, while accusing Afghan forces “in sufficient numbers” in the area of ​​”intentionally withdrawing”.

Kandahar is the birthplace of the Taliban movement, which seized power in Afghanistan in 1996, setting up an ultra-cold Islamic regime before being overthrown by a US-led coalition and entering Afghanistan in 2001, after the attacks of September 11.

“There will be no peace”

Dozens of families fled their homes in Panjwai district on Sunday after his capture by the Taliban. “We had to flee our village. The Taliban opened fire on our car, as I was fleeing with my family. At least five bullets hit the car,” but no one was injured, told AFP Giran, a resident of Panjwai who found refuge in Kandahar.

“They are high up and shoot at all moving vehicles,” he said. “People want peace, but there will be no peace. The Taliban want power, they don’t want peace.”

Panjwai is the fifth district in Kandahar province to fall to the Taliban in recent weeks. On Sunday afternoon, the secretary to the governor of Kandahar was killed by the explosion of a bomb placed on his car in front of the governorate, the Interior Ministry said.

Fighting has raged in recent weeks in several Afghan provinces and the Taliban claim to control around 100 of the country’s nearly 400 districts.

Afghan authorities dispute this number, but admit that government forces have withdrawn from some districts, and it is difficult to verify the situation on the ground independently.

“Withdrawal of US forces emboldened the Taliban”

The withdrawal of foreign forces from Bagram and in the short term from Afghanistan has made observers fear that the Afghan army will struggle against the Taliban without the air support provided so far by US forces. Some experts believe that this lack of US air support to Afghan forces is one of the main reasons for the Taliban’s recent conquests.

“The withdrawal of American forces emboldened the Taliban, as the escalation of violence shows,” said Afghan analyst Ramish Salimi. “This year is going to be difficult for Afghanistan (…), especially since the Doha talks have not produced any positive progress.”

Peace negotiations between the Taliban and the government of Kabul, which began in September 2020 in the capital of Qatar, have been at a standstill for months.

But the Afghan Minister of the Interior, Abdul Satar Mirzakwal, assured the private television station Tolo News that Afghanistan now has a “powerful air force”. “The cities are a red line” and “we will defend them with all our might” against the Taliban, he said.

The White House announced on Friday that the full withdrawal of US troops would be completed by the end of August, ending the longest war in US history.

With AFP