KABUL, Afghanistan: Afghan security forces are battling the Taliban for a fifth day after the insurgents launched a wide-scale attack in the western Badghis province, officials said Monday.
Col. Qais Mangal, a spokesman for Defense Ministry, said that at least 12 security forces have been killed in the last 48 hours, bringing the overall death toll to more than 40. Mangal said dozens of insurgents have been killed and wounded by air and ground forces.
Some 2,000 Taliban fighters attacked checkpoints and an army compound in the Bala Murghab district before dawn Thursday. Mohammad Nasir Nazari, a provincial council member, said some 600 Afghan soldiers who were trapped inside the base were able to escape and reach the provincial capital of Qala-e-Now over the past two days after reinforcements reached the base.
He said army commandos and special police units are currently battling the insurgents, with high casualties on both sides. He was unable to provide an exact breakdown of the numbers killed and wounded.
The Taliban effectively control nearly half the country and have continued to carry out daily attacks on Afghan security forces despite holding several rounds of peace talks with the United States in recent months. The Taliban have refused to meet with the Afghan government, which they view as a US puppet.
The Taliban agreed to take part in an Afghan dialogue in Qatar, where the insurgents maintain a political office, later this month. But the Taliban say any member of the government who attends will only do so in a personal capacity.
After two months of consultations, the Afghan government announced Monday that it had created a council to appoint a delegation to the talks. The council consists of current and former officials, as well as other prominent figures from around the country. Afghan peace envoy Omer Daudzai said the delegates, who have yet to be chosen, will “exchange views” with the Taliban ahead of possible negotiations.
US envoy Zalmay Khalilzad, who has led the talks with the Taliban in a bid to end America’s longest war, tweeted Sunday that he had met with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani in Kabul to discuss the upcoming dialogue and efforts to reduce the violence.
Elsewhere in Afghanistan, a roadside bomb killed two people in the eastern city of Jalalabad and wounded another five, said Farid Khan, a spokesman for the provincial police chief. No one immediately claimed the attack, but a local Daesh affiliate claimed responsibility for attacks on Saturday and Sunday in Jalalabad.
Afghan forces battle Taliban for fifth day in western Badghis province
Afghan forces battle Taliban for fifth day in western Badghis province
- At least 12 security forces have been killed in the last 48 hours
- The Taliban effectively control nearly half the country and have continued to carry out daily attacks on Afghan security forces
Military intervention in Iran ‘not the preferred option’: French minister
- The president’s son blamed foreign interference for the protests’ violent turn, but said “the security and law enforcement forces may have made mistakes that no one intends to defend and that must be addressed”
PARIS: Military intervention in Iran, where authorities launched a deadly crackdown on protesters that killed thousands, is not France’s preferred option, its armed forces minister said on Sunday.
“I think we must support the Iranian people in any way we can,” Alice Rufo said on the political broadcast “Le Grand Jury.”
But “a military intervention is not the preferred option” for France, she said, adding it was “up to the Iranian people to rid themselves of this regime.”
Rufo lamented how hard it was to “document the crimes the Iranian regime has carried out against its population” due to an internet shutdown.
“The fate of the Iranian people belongs to Iranians, and it is not for us to choose their leaders,” said Rufo.
The son of Iran’s president, who is also a government adviser, has called for internet connectivity to be restored, warning that the more than two-week blackout there would exacerbate anti-government sentiment.
Yousef Pezeshkian, whose father, Masoud, was elected president in 2024, said, “Keeping the internet shut will create dissatisfaction and widen the gap between the people and the government.”
“This means those who were not and are not dissatisfied will be added to the list of the dissatisfied,” he wrote in a Telegram post that was later picked up by the IRNA news agency.
Such a risk, he said, was greater than that of a return to protests if connectivity were restored.
The younger Pezeshkian, a media adviser to the presidency, said he did not know when internet access would be restored.
He pointed to concerns about the “release of videos and images related to last week’s ‘protests that turned violent’” as a reason the internet remained cut off, but criticized the logic.
Quoting a Persian proverb, he posted “‘He whose account is clean has nothing to fear from scrutiny.’”
The president’s son blamed foreign interference for the protests’ violent turn, but said “the security and law enforcement forces may have made mistakes that no one intends to defend and that must
be addressed.”
He went on to say that “the release of films is something we will have to face sooner or later. Shutting down the internet won’t solve anything; it will just postpone the issue.”
