Taliban Commander Who Led Attack on Afghan City Was Released From Prison Last Year, Officials Say
KABUL—The Taliban commander overseeing an assault on the critical southern metropolis of Lashkargah is a single of 5,000 previous prisoners unveiled by the Afghan govt last yr less than force from the U.S., Afghan and Western officers say.
The commander, Mawlavi Talib, is a single of 1000’s of previous prisoners freed to additional peace talks who have returned to the battlefield to sign up for the Taliban onslaught against cities close to the region, Afghan officers say. The presence of the Taliban fighters is a new strain in relations in between Washington and Kabul, as the U.S.-backed govt struggles to fend off Taliban attacks in the course of the region.
Afghan officers mentioned intense combating continued Tuesday in Lashkargah, the provincial funds of Helmand province, right after weighty U.S. airstrikes and a counterattack by U.S.-educated Afghan commandos overnight. Below Mr. Talib’s command, hundreds of Taliban have pushed toward the metropolis heart more than the previous 7 days. On Tuesday they launched an attack on Lashkargah’s prison in a bid to launch a lot more inmates and recruit them into the struggle.
The combating in Lashkargah is aspect of a wider countrywide Taliban offensive that had captured 50 % of the country’s remote districts by last month and now threatens provincial capitals. On Tuesday, the govt mentioned that its commandos launched a counterattack in the western metropolis of Herat, whose defenses have been teetering. Taliban forces last month pierced defenses in Kandahar, Afghanistan’s next major metropolis, but govt forces are holding regular there.
Afghanistan’s Protection Ministry mentioned Tuesday its forces killed close to 375 Taliban and wounded 193 in combating throughout the region in the last 24 several hours. Eleven improvised explosive products have been found out and defused, the ministry mentioned. The Afghan govt has stopped releasing statistics on its have military services casualties to stay clear of demoralizing its troops.
