Government control of remote districts in a few provinces is seriously threatened by the Taleban. Unless security forces take immediate steps the situation may slip out of government hands.
In some places the government’s writ does not go beyond the boundary walls of the district governor’s office, while the Taleban besiege others. The government rules by the day and the Taleban at night.
On Sep 17, the spokesperson for the Ministry of Interior Affairs Sidiq Sidiqi said the Taleban were threatening between 60 and 70 districts, and there was a war in some districts. “The Taleban are trying to make nest there,” he said. “We would focus on nearby and remote districts.”
More recently the Ministry of Defence said provinces such as Helmand, Badghis, Farah, Herat, Nangarhar, Nuristan, Kunar, Kunduz , Faryab and Ghor were threatened but not taken by the Taleban, according to the spokesperson General Zaher Azimi. “The enemy tried to advance but they were resisted” in all but two or three districts in Helmand and one in Kandahar, he said. “The military plans to recapture these districts, and we will be successful,” he added hopefully.
The optimism notwithstanding a high-ranking officer in the defence ministry told Killid off the record that there was a war everywhere in the country except in the Bamyan and Panjsher provinces.
Helmand
Residents of Nawzad in Helmand province, 140 km north of the provincial capital Lashkargah said the district could fall unless security forces show willingness to fight. Government officials have reported success in the province’s Marja, Sangeen and Musa Qala districts after three months of fighting.
A delegation of elders who had gone to Lashkargah on Oct 22 to meet the provincial administration told Killid reporter Hazrat Mohammad Roohani that if the government cannot ensure their security, it should surrender the district to its armed opponents.
Sayed Murad Sadat, district governor of Nawzad, has confirmed the government forces control only one of the 360 karez (karez is a horizontal irrigation tunnel) and the office of the district governor. “We are in a war with the Taleban for the past three months. The presence of the national army and national police is at best scanty while the Taleban are fully equipped. Areas like Washer, Musa Qala and Kajaki district can be threatened from here,” he said. He added that all schools were closed in the district.
Concern about the imminent fall of Nawzad has heightened with the handover of Britain’s Camp Bastion in Helmand to Afghan control on Oct 22. The last of the British troops left by air the next day.
Ghazni
The Taleban are more powerful than ever in Ghazni. The provincial council said the security situation has deteriorated and about six districts are very vulnerable. The districts were not identified.
Abdul Jami Jami, provincial council chief, has warned that people may join hands with the Taleban.
Aref Rahmani, member of parliament from Ghazni, has accused the government of deliberately neglecting Nawa district, which has been in the hands of the Taleban since 2007. “The Taleban are using the border district to supply their military forces in Zabul, Uruzgan, Paktia, Paktika and Khost and no one is bothering to launch operations, and save the local people,” he said.
Governor of Ghazni Musa Khan Akbarzada refuted Rahmani’s charges. He said security forces at serious risk to themselves prevented the Taleban from taking over Ajeristan district. “No one is preventing operations in Nawa district. Nawa can be taken in hours but reaching troops there is challenging,” said the governor. The district is on the border between Zabul province and Baluchistan in Pakistan, about 150 km south of Ghazni city.
Kunduz
The northern areas of the province have long been a battlefield between security forces and Taleban. Taleban attacked 11 government posts in Khan Abad district. Security has deteriorated in Dasht Archi and Imam Saheb districts.
Nasrudin Sadi, the governor of Dasht Archi, said the district could be lost to the Taleban. “Even now 85 percent of the district is under Taleban control. We have frequently contacted the governor and police commander. No one has heard our voice,” he complained. Dasht Archi was infiltrated by Pakistani Taleban and armed Uzbek groups. “Some are coming from Gor Tepa area of Imam Saheb district,” he said.
Imamudin Quraishi, the governor of Imam Saheb district said terrorists from different parts of the world have settled in Kunduz. “There are armed groups from Chechnya, Tajikistan and local Taleban – as many as 300 armed individuals who attack our 20-member police group.” He said he has information that bags full of money come to them from Pakistan. They force locals to pay oshr (a tenth part of their yield).
Kunduz Police spokesperson blamed the local authorities for letting the Taleban take control. “Due to their laziness the Taleban have found the opportunity to get control of the areas,” the spokesperson said.
Sar-e Pol
For a time the province was calm, but now armed activities have forced about 50 schools to shut.
Asadullah Khuram, the head of the provincial council says most of the schools are in Kohestanat and Sancharak, districts under Taleban control. “Teaching materials cannot be supplied to the students… If there are schools the students are being taught by mullahs.”
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