Tabnak – While the US-led attacks have failed to curb the activities of terrorist groups in Afghanistan, new reports suggest that the Taliban have increased their presence in rural areas near capital Kabul, to the extent that even the security forces do not dare to patrol those areas.
Amid growing criticism about the Afghan government’s handling of security problems, the rising number of foreign forces, and the failure of American-led aerial strikes to counter the anti-government groups, local sources say the Taliban have managed to control large areas in Qarabagh district, only 30 kilometers north of the capital.
Ariana News quoted local residents and security forces as saying that the Taliban have even set up desert courts in the villages of Qarabagh. Witnesses complain that the government forces cannot patrol most parts of the district even during the daytime.
Confirming the presence and activities of the Taliban in Qarabagh, district governor Mohammad Azim has said, “Small groups of two to three-member (from Taliban) are active and mostly being involved in mine planting activities in the district.”
Meanwhile, CNN reports that the US military helped Afghan troops repel a major Taliban attack on the Afghan provincial capital Farah on Tuesday and Wednesday that punctured the security perimeter surrounding the city.
It was unclear how close the Taliban came to capturing the city, which would have represented a major blow to the Afghan government. The insurgents claimed they briefly seized the city center, while the NATO-led coalition said it saw no direct evidence that they ever made it into the city.
A spokesman for the coalition said the Taliban began their attack on government checkpoints on the city's outskirts very early Tuesday morning, and that by the time US MQ-9 drones arrived overhead a couple of hours later there was no evidence of Taliban fighters in the city.
However, a senior NATO military official acknowledged Wednesday that the attack on Farah "punctured" the security cordon surrounding the city. "Absolutely we're concerned," the official said of the attack. "We know that the (Afghan Security Forces) is in a big fight as we are trying to turn that tide," he added.
The situation in Afghanistan has deteriorated noticeably in recent months. The Taliban, which had previously seized considerable territory in rural areas of the country, has launched offensives against large cities. Additionally, the influence of the Daesh (ISIL or ISIS) terrorist group has increased in the country.
Afghanistan is in a state of political and social turmoil, with government security forces fighting the Taliban. The instability has persisted in the country since the US launched a military operation in 2001 to defeat the Taliban and al-Qaeda after the 9/11 attacks.
