FARAH, Afghanistan: Taliban fighters closed in on another district in Afghanistan on Sunday as officials sought to reassure an increasingly angry public that security would improve.
On Sunday, the insurgents were besieging the governor’s compound in Ajrestan district in Ghazni, south of the capital Kabul, although officials said reinforcements had arrived and were relieving police defending the town.
The fighting in Ghazni, which has long had a heavy Taliban presence, follows several days of fighting in Farah province, on the other side of Afghanistan on the border with Iran where the insurgents came close to overrunning the provincial capital.
General John Nicholson, the top US commander in Afghanistan visited Farah on Saturday with the ministers of the interior and defense and the head of the NDS intelligence service.
“Farah did not fall and Farah will never fall,” he said, calling on the Taliban to accept President Ashraf Ghani’s offer of peace talks. “We will stay with you until we bring this war to a peaceful conclusion,” he said.
He met local officials in the governor’s compound and heard a bitter litany of complaints about the failure of the government to protect the city and the province, where the Taliban control many areas.
“If you want to make Farah better, then please, you should help before there’s an incident,” said Belqis Roshan, a former senator. “We have 10 districts, and apart from the centers, they’re under Taliban rule,” she said.
Reinforcements rushed in from other provinces and repeated strikes by Afghan and US air forces pushed the insurgents back from the city center but bazaars remain deserted and the streets empty.
“People are still worried about the situation,” said Farah resident Abdullah. “The Taliban have a strong presence in almost all districts and are still hiding in some parts of the city.”
As the Taliban have continued the spring offensive they launched last month, heavy fighting has been seen from Badakhshan and Baghlan provinces in the north to Farah in the west and Ghazni and Zabul in the center.
In Ajrestan district in Ghazni, Mohammad Arif Noori, a spokesman for the provincial governor said fresh commando forces had arrived and the Taliban pushed back from the town center.
“Fighting is continuing but the attacks on the district center have been repelled,” he said.
However local officials said the center remained under severe threat and the local governor had fled.
“Since last night, we have lost contact with officials and security forces in Ajrestan. Since then we have had no report on the situation in the district,” said Mansoor Faqiri, a member of the Ghazni provincial council.
Afghan government under pressure as Taliban threaten new district
Afghan government under pressure as Taliban threaten new district
- The fighting in Ghazni, which has long had a heavy Taliban presence, follows several days of fighting in Farah province, on the other side of Afghanistan on the border with Iran
- The top US commander in Afghanistan visited Farah on Saturday with the ministers of the interior and defense and the head of the NDS intelligence service
Britain needs ‘AI stress tests’ for financial services, lawmakers say
- Lawmakers urge AI-specific stress tests for financial firms
LONDON: Britain’s financial watchdogs are not doing enough to stop artificial intelligence from harming consumers or destabilising markets, a cross-party group of lawmakers said on Tuesday, urging regulators to move away from what it called a “wait and see” approach.
In a report on AI in financial services, the Treasury Committee said the Financial Conduct Authority and the Bank of England should start running AI-specific stress tests to help firms prepare for market shocks triggered by automated systems.
The committee also called on the FCA to publish detailed guidance by the end of 2026 on how consumer protection rules apply to AI, and on the extent to which senior managers should be expected to understand the systems they oversee.
“Based on the evidence I’ve seen, I do not feel confident that our financial system is prepared if there was a major AI-related incident and that is worrying,” committee chair Meg Hillier said in a statement.
TECHNOLOGY CARRIES ‘SIGNIFICANT RISKS’
A race among banks to adopt agentic AI, which unlike generative AI can make decisions and take autonomous action, runs new risks for retail customers, the FCA told Reuters late last year.
About three-quarters of UK financial firms now use AI. Companies are deploying the technology across core functions, from processing insurance claims to performing credit assessments.
While the report acknowledged the benefits of AI, it warned the technology also carried “significant risks” including opaque credit decisions, the potential exclusion of vulnerable consumers through algorithmic tailoring, fraud, and the spread of unregulated financial advice through AI chatbots.
Experts contributing to the report also highlighted threats to financial stability, pointing to the reliance on a small group of US tech giants for AI and cloud services. Some also noted that AI-driven trading systems may amplify herding behavior in markets, risking a financial crisis in a worst-case scenario.
An FCA spokesperson said the regulator welcomed the focus on AI and would review the report. The regulator has previously indicated it does not favor AI-specific rules due to the pace of technological change.
The BoE did not respond to a request for comment.
Hillier told Reuters that increasingly sophisticated forms of generative AI were influencing financial decisions. “If something has gone wrong in the system, that could have a very big impact on the consumer,” she said.
Separately, Britain’s finance ministry appointed Starling Bank CIO Harriet Rees and Lloyds Banking Group ‘s Rohit Dhawan as “AI Champions” to help steer AI adoption in financial services.
