Taliban Begin Pouring From Every Direction As The U.S. Withdraws

Support SouthFront

Click to see full-size image

The United States withdrawal from Afghanistan is in progress, and two more B-52 bombers were deployed in Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar to guarantee the security of the departing US troops.

2 additional @usairforce #B52s from @TeamMinot, arrived at Al Udeid Air Base, Qatar, May 4, to support @CENTCOM region in protecting U.S. and coalition forces as they conduct drawdown operations from Afghanistan. #AnywhereAnytime #B52uesday@USAFCENT @US_Stratcom @DeptofDefense https://t.co/f8HjoAfURU

— AFGSC (@AFGlobalStrike) May 4, 2021

The withdrawal is felt as an abandonment by the Afghanistan puppet government and its armed forces.

Immediately as the drawdown began, areas of Burka district in Baghlan fell under Taliban control after clashes on May 4^th.

The local officials moved their offices to other places in the district after the Taliban captured some parts of the district.

In the meantime, Jawid Basharat, a spokesman for the provincial police, has also confirmed the incident, saying: “Security forces have made a tactical retreat and are preparing for operations in the district.”

The Taliban claimed of capturing the police HQ, the district government office and several security outposts.

In the two days leading to May 4^th, the Taliban mounted major attacks in the Baghlan-e-Markazi district of the province.

Separately, Afghanistan’s security forces reportedly fought back a Taliban offensive in southern Helmand province, officials and residents have said.

Attaullah Afghan, the head of Helmand’s provincial council, said the Taliban had launched its offensive on May 3^rd from multiple directions. The group attacked checkpoints around the outskirts of the provincial capital, Lashkar Gah, taking over some of them, he said.

The Afghan government is fighting back, however.

The Afghan government said that it had killed more than 60 Taliban fighters in a series of offensives against the group after assuming control of a key US military base a day earlier.

“Backed by aerial support, the operations were conducted independently by local forces without any aid, cooperation or involvement of foreign troops,” Fawad Aman, a defense ministry spokesman said.

“During the past 24 hours, 62 Taliban were killed, and 58 others were wounded in these operations,” he said.

The assaults covered several provinces in the south, northeast and eastern regions of the war-torn country, with a focus on the Ghazni province, to the southwest of Kabul, and the southern Helmand province where the US military formally handed over control of the Camp Antonik base to the government.

Aman said that the operations were in response to the Taliban’s “provocations” and were aimed at “destroying their planning centers, used for attacking government forces.”

Meanwhile, Zabihullah Mujahid, a spokesman for the Taliban, accused Kabul of “showing and testing its force by launching the operations on Taliban-held areas, forcing the Taliban to prevent and respond.”

MORE ON THE TOPIC:

• Massive Car Bomb Blast Leaves At Least 27 Dead In Afghanistan’s Logar Province
• Afghanistan, The US Plan For A New Catastrophe

Support SouthFront