The Afghan government has lost control of nearly 5 percent of its territory to the Taliban since the beginning of this year, according to a report by the US government's top watchdog on Afghanistan.
Published on Friday by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), the report says the area under Afghan government "control or influence" decreased to 65.6 percent by the end of May from 70.5 percent last year, based on data provided by US forces in Afghanistan.
That accounts to a loss of 19 of the country's approximately 400 governing districts.
The commander of US forces in Afghanistan, Army General John Nicholson, said most of the areas the Taliban control were rural.
"They believed they were going to be able to seize and hold terrain, and they failed to do so," Nicholson told a Pentagon briefing via video link on Thursday.
Afghan officials, however, say the exact figure cannot be measured as the fight against the Taliban and other armed groups is still ongoing.
"It's not just the Taliban but many other insurgent groups in Afghanistan battling to gain territory, and we are fighting to push them back, so we cannot really measure how many areas are in control of the Taliban or other insurgent groups," General Dawlat Waziri, spokesperson for the Afghan defence ministry, told Al Jazeera on Friday from Kabul.
"However, we can confirm that the Taliban seems to be present mostly in rural districts and not in strategic cities of the country."
The US has been training and equipping Afghan security forces in order to withdraw American troops from the country, but the Afghans remain short of personnel and hardware...
[aljazeera.com]
29/7/16
--
-
Related:
That accounts to a loss of 19 of the country's approximately 400 governing districts.
The commander of US forces in Afghanistan, Army General John Nicholson, said most of the areas the Taliban control were rural.
"They believed they were going to be able to seize and hold terrain, and they failed to do so," Nicholson told a Pentagon briefing via video link on Thursday.
Afghan officials, however, say the exact figure cannot be measured as the fight against the Taliban and other armed groups is still ongoing.
"It's not just the Taliban but many other insurgent groups in Afghanistan battling to gain territory, and we are fighting to push them back, so we cannot really measure how many areas are in control of the Taliban or other insurgent groups," General Dawlat Waziri, spokesperson for the Afghan defence ministry, told Al Jazeera on Friday from Kabul.
"However, we can confirm that the Taliban seems to be present mostly in rural districts and not in strategic cities of the country."
The US has been training and equipping Afghan security forces in order to withdraw American troops from the country, but the Afghans remain short of personnel and hardware...
[aljazeera.com]
29/7/16
--
-
Related:
--
Taliban attacks rock Afghanistan's Kunduz province
Afghan security forces kill 62 militants within day
Afghan official: No plans to revive Taliban peace talks
Obama: US to Maintain 8,400 Troops in Afghanistan into Next Year
GR
FR
DE
ES
IT
RU
EU
No comments :
Post a Comment
Only News