July 7, 2021: The Taliban launched its first attack on one of Afghanistan’s provincial capitals on Wednesday after a major offensive against Afghan forces, as the withdrawal of US troops from the country is nearing completion.
Fighting has broken out in Qala-e-Naw, the capital of the western city of Badghis. Militants have seized police headquarters and the country’s intelligence agency. Ever since US and NATO forces began their final withdrawal from the country, they have seized dozens of rural districts and expressed fears that the Afghan government is in crisis.
But the attack on Qala-e-Naw, in the western province of Badghis, is the first time the Taliban have tried to subdue a provincial capital. “The enemy has entered the city, all the districts have fallen. Fighting has started inside the city,” Badghis Governor Hussamuddin Shams told reporters in a text message. Abdul Aziz Bek, head of the Badghis provincial council, said some security personnel had surrendered to the Taliban at night.
“Provincial council officials have fled to a military camp in the city. Fighting continues in the city.” The Taliban were inside the city’s police headquarters and the local office of the country’s intelligence agency, the National Directorate of Security, he said.
An Afghan government delegation met with Taliban representatives in Tehran on Wednesday, the Iranian foreign ministry said, following months of stalled negotiations between the two warring sides.
Opening the Tehran talks, Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif welcomed the US departure from its eastern neighbour but warned: “Today the people and political leaders of Afghanistan must make difficult decisions for the future of their country.”
Last week, all US and NATO forces left Bagram Air Base near Kabul, the command centre for anti-Taliban operations, effectively wrapping up their exit after 20 years of military involvement that began in the wake of the September 11 attacks. The assault comes hours after the Pentagon confirmed that their pullout was more than 90 percent completed.
For months the Taliban have been effectively surrounding several provincial capitals across the country, with observers predicting that the militants were waiting for the complete withdrawal of foreign forces before ordering an onslaught on urban areas. After routing much of the north, the fall of Badghis would further tighten the Taliban’s grip on western Afghanistan as its forces have also inched closer to the nearby city of Herat near the border with Iran.
Afghan defence officials have said they intend to focus on securing major cities, roads and border towns in the face of the Taliban onslaught, launched as US and NATO troops pressed ahead with their final withdrawal in early May.
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