After NATO and the United States began withdrawing from Afghanistan earlier this year, the security situation in the war-torn country has deteriorated sharply.
The Taliban took control of district by district in the country’s provinces and strategically important border crossings with neighboring countries. The Afghan government has so far controlled the major cities, but these cities too could fall.
On Monday evening, the Taliban attacked at least three provincial capitals – Lashkar Gah, Kandahar and Herat – after a week of intense fighting that drove thousands to flee.
in danger of falling
In Lashkar Gah, the capital of Helmand province, the Taliban attacked a prison and the city center in a coordinated attack. The attack came just hours after the government announced it would have a greater presence in the city.
Local officials and residents of the provincial capital told DPA news agency that government forces now only control two police districts in the city.
There were shootings and clashes within the borders of Askar Gah on Monday. Government forces are trying to force the rebels out of the city with air strikes and special forces. American bombers also contributed, reported to the DPA by city residents.
The emergency organization, which runs a hospital for war victims in the city, says 90 percent of beds are now full of wounded.
On Saturday, another hospital in Lashkar Gah was bombed. Afghan authorities claim that Taliban fighters hid in the hospital, which the owner denied.
Blame the United States
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani blames the United States for the sharp deterioration of the security situation.
– He said on Monday in the National Assembly that the reason for the current situation is that the decision was taken very quickly, referring to the withdrawal of foreign forces.
The statement he made at the same time that the United States opened to receive more Afghans than they had already promised. The United States has already begun accepting thousands of interpreters who assisted American forces during the war, as well as their families.
Accused of a massacre
The United States and Britain on Monday accused the Taliban of killing a large number of civilians in Spin Boldak village on the border with Pakistan.
– In Spin Boldak in Kandahar, the Taliban in collective retaliation killed dozens of civilians, as stated in a Twitter message from the US and British embassies in Kabul.
These killings could be war crimes. He further stated that they must be investigated and the Taliban fighters and leaders behind them held accountable.
The Taliban captured Spin Boldak in mid-July and have since controlled the strategically important highway between Kandahar in Afghanistan and Quetta in Pakistan.
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