The Taliban militants have captured five more districts in Paktia, Ghazni, and Badakhshan provinces, local officials confirmed. Meanwhile, locals are increasingly joining the armed resistance against the militants in different parts of the country.
Three districts of Samkani, Janikhil, and Patan have fallen to the Taliban in the eastern Paktia province, said Abdul Malik Zazai, chairman of Paktia Provincial Council.
The militant group also seized a number of equipment and vehicles which they have transferred to Pakistan, the local official told Kabul Now late on Wednesday, June 23.
Abband district of the southern Ghazni province which shares border with Paktia has also fallen to the Taliban. Amanullah Kamran, deputy head of the Ghazni Provincial Council, said that the government forces had retreated to Qarabagh district.
In addition to Abband, Qarabagh, Muqur and Gilan districts of Ghazni are also on the brink of collapse into the hands of the militants, he added.
Sanaullah Rohani, spokesperson for Badakhshan police, has also confirmed fall of Khash district in the province. He added the district fell to the militants following the Afghan defense and security forces retreated from the district’s center after days-long resistance against the Taliban.
He, however, assured that efforts are underway to recapture the district and security forces will launch a clearance operation soon.
According to Rohani, in collusion with foreign terrorists, the Taliban had launched their attacks in the district and used civilians as human shields.
In the face of growing Taliban attacks and collapse of district, locals have also taken up arms to defend their districts against the militants along with Afghan defense and security forces.
In what has so far described as “national uprising” against the Taliban, locals of Parwan, Kapisa, Nangarhar, Balkh, Takhar, Sar-e-Pul, Jowzjan, Kandahar, Herat, and some other provinces have left homes for the battlefields against the Taliban.
The locals mobilization have recently accelerated as Atta Mohammad Noor, leader of a fraction of Jamiat-e-Islami party of Afghanistan, and Mohammad Mohaqiq, leader of the People’s Unity Party of Afghanistan, called on their supporter to join the armed resistance against the Taliban.
Marshal Abdul Rashid Dostum, another key anti-Taliban figure, had previously mobilized his militias in northern Afghanistan to fight against the militants.
