Taliban Storm Afghan Provincial Capital, Enable Hundreds of Prisoners to Escape
Voice of America
ISLAMABAD - Authorities in Afghanistan said Wednesday that pro-government forces had pushed back Taliban insurgents from parts of a northwestern city and regained control of official buildings after hours of fierce clashes. Fighting erupted in parts of Qala-e-Naw, the capital of Badghis province, after the Taliban assaulted it overnight from multiple directions. Residents and officials said insurgent fighters pushed their way into the city, taking over key security installations, including provincial police headquarters, and freeing about 600 inmates from the central prison. Video footage released by the Taliban showed the prisoners escaping from the facility and insurgent fighters riding motorbikes moving into different parts of the city. Provincial governor Hessamuddin Shams told VOA the Taliban captured all the districts around Qala-e-Naw in recent days, enabling them to attack the provincial capital. Clashes continued in the city throughout Wednesday before Afghan forces, backed by airstrikes, pushed the insurgents out of the city later in the afternoon. Shams later claimed while talking to reporters that most of the prisoners had been recaptured. An Afghan Defense Ministry spokesman, Fawad Aman, tweeted government forces inflicted heavy casualties on the “fleeing" insurgents. Taliban #terrorist suffered heavy and sustained casualties in their failed attempt to capture Qala-e-Naw, #Badghis province. The bravery of the #ANDSF and their swift and decisive action was highly commendable. pic.twitter.com/hXbDBH9QAm (1/2) The Taliban offensive is bringing hardship to communities across Afghanistan already grappling with drought, poverty & COVID. It violates Afghans' human rights and provokes fear that a system this country’s citizens do not support will be imposed.
Taliban fighters have made rapid territorial advances across Afghanistan since May 1, when the United States and NATO allies formally began withdrawing their last remaining troops from the country. The insurgents have since overrun at least 150 of Afghanistan’s more than 400 districts. The assault on Qala-e-Naw was the first by the Taliban against a provincial capital, fueling fears the insurgents intend to regain power in Kabul by force instead of returning to the table for peace talks with Afghan government representatives to negotiate a political settlement. The Taliban also have encircled other provincial capitals, particularly those in northern and northeastern Afghanistan, raising alarms in neighboring Central Asian states. The insurgents there have captured dozens of districts in recent days, largely because pro-government forces either retreated to safety or surrendered. About 1,600 soldiers also fled to Tajikistan from the embattled border province of Badakhshan to escape Taliban attacks. U.S.-led foreign forces are supposed to fully withdraw from Afghanistan by the September 11 deadline set by President Joe Biden mid-April. The foreign troop exit is the outcome of a peace deal negotiated by Washington with the Taliban in February 2020 under then-President Donald Trump. It requires the insurgents to fight terrorism on Afghan soil and negotiate a political peace deal with the Kabul government.A TV screen shows a file image of North Korea's rocket launch during a news program at a bus terminal in Seoul, South Korea, May 27, 2024. FILE - Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi speaks to reporters in Colombo, July 29, 2023. FILE - A TV screen shows a report of North Korea's spy satellite into orbit with its third launch attempt this year with an image of North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un during a news program at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, Nov. 22, 2023.
Palestinians gather at the site of an Israeli strike on a camp for internally displaced people in Rafah on May 27, 2024. Fire rages following an Israeli strike on an area designated for displaced Palestinians, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, in this still picture taken from a video, May 26, 2024. Palestinians gather at the site of an Israeli strike on a camp for internally displaced people in Rafah on May 27, 2024. A member of the bomb squad of the Israeli police collects debris after a rocket fired by Palestinian militants struck in the Israeli city of Herzliya on May 26, 2024.