Kabul: The tables have turned in the Afghan war leaving heavy Taliban casualties in the operations carried out by Afghan forces. A whopping 455 Taliban militants were killed in the operations by the Afghan forces in 15 provinces. Meanwhile, the US Embassy in Afghanistan has accused the Taliban of massacring dozens of civilians in revenge killings. The US Embassy said the Taliban carried out the revenge killings against people supporting the Afghan government and Western forces in Spin Boldak.
Reports say the Taliban militants are preparing to seize control of provincial capitals of Kandahar, Helmand and Herat. Some media outlets claim the Taliban was succeeding in the effort. Also, some analysts believe the Afghan forces have intensified their action against the Taliban. The Afghan Defence Ministry has made clear that they will not go easy on the Taliban by releasing footage of its fighter jets and helicopters targeting Taliban sites with a barrage of rockets.
According to information released by the Afghan Defence Ministry on Monday morning, 455 Taliban militants were killed while 232 were wounded in the past 24 hours. The Taliban made an unsuccessful attempt to free their imprisoned fighters by launching an attack on a prison in Lashkargah, the capital city of Helmand province. During the clashes, 38 Taliban militants were killed on the spot by the Afghan Army. The Afghan forces are believed to be gaining success in thwarting the Taliban attacks due to the support received from locals.
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has criticised the intensifying Taliban attacks. Ghani warned that today the Taliban are more brutal than what the Afghan people had seen 20 years ago. ‘Over the last two decades, the Taliban has changed completely. Their militants are more ruthless and inhumane,’ Ghani said. Furthermore, President Ghani called on the people of Afghanistan to unite, saying it was necessary to defeat the Taliban and that the Taliban would not change unless defeated entirely in the current war.
At the same time, President Ghani also blamed the unexpected withdrawal of the US troops for the current situation in Afghanistan. ‘We had told the US the sudden withdrawal would affect Afghanistan’s security. Yet the US pulled back its troops,’ Ghani said. Moreover, the Afghan President assured that despite it, the United States had announced its full support to the government, saying the situation would change in the next six months.
Meanwhile, the US Embassy in the capital Kabul has accused the Taliban of killing Afghan civilians. The United States accused the Taliban of massacring civilians in Kandahar’s Spin Boldak in revenge killings. The Taliban leaders are responsible for the massacre and must be held accountable for war crimes, the US Embassy demanded. At the same time, the embassy also warned on social media that if the Taliban leadership cannot stop its fighters, they are not fit to run the administration.
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