AP Photo / Allauddin Khan
On August 16th, Taliban fighters attacked Afghan National Army, National Police and Local Police personnel, who were arriving in the Basharan area of the city of Lashkargah. Government forces were also supported by aircraft, according to Al Emarah.
Lashkargah is in southwestern Afghanistan and is the capital of Helmand Province.
As of late August 16th, according to the report by Al Emarah, the fight is on-going, but so far 3 enemy APCs have been destroyed and 16 soldiers were killed. The Taliban are on the offensive, with Afghan Security Forces not advancing, according to the report. The report also claims that 2 Taliban have been killed and 3 have been injured.
Pajhwork reported on August 17th that a landmine blast killed 4 Afghanistan soldiers including a colonel in the southern Kandahar province of Helmand. Simultaneously, nearby a NATO airstrike killed 13 Taliban fighters, according to officials cited by the outlet.
In the early hours of August 17th, a bomb explosion in the fifth district of Kabul wounded 1 individual and burned his car. Police spokesman Hashmatullah Stanikzai said the bomb went off in the Company Bazaar area of the capital at 8.30am, as cited by Pajhwork. He further explained that the cause of the explosion is yet to discovered.
On August 15th, a suicide bomb attack in front of an education center in the west of Kabul left at least 34 dead and 56 injured, according to the Afghan Health Ministry, cited by Al Jazeera. It is unclear how many students were in the center, which specializes in preparing students for university exams, at the time of the attack.
The explosion initially set off gunfire from Afghan security forces in the area, which led to assumptions that there were more attackers involved, officials later said that the indications showed that there was only one bomber. “We can confirm the attack was caused by a suicide bomber on foot. The bomber detonated himself inside the education centre,” said Hashmat Stanikzai, police spokesman.
Zabihullah Mujahid, Taliban spokesman, denied involvement in the attack. Responsibility of the attack was claimed by ISIS on August 17th.
Afghan President Ashran Ghani visited Ghazni after Afghan Security Forces repelled the Taliban attack on August 15th after five days of fighgint.
Mr Ghani arrived in the city by helicopter and was holding meetings with security officials and elders amid tight security. “I am here to help all those who have suffered losses, I am committed to build the city and also do everything to protect Ghazni,” he said.
The National cited The US Secretary of Defence James Mattis said the Taliban had six targets in and around the Ghazni city but failed to achieve any of them. He did not specify what the targets were. He also said that Taliban attacks are likely to continue happening due to the parliamentary elections that are coming in October.
Taliban forces keeping showing their force and proving that they hold the upper hand in the 17-year long conflict.
This confirms, if confirmation were needed, that those 17 years in Afghanisatn have been a waste of time, effort, money, and human lives, though the latter are completely irrelevant for the empire-in-decline and its past & present psychopathic “commander-in-chief”.
It only seems like that, because immense profits are made. And the poppy trade is used to fund illegal CIA wars.
This time it is done smarter than Vietnam, because the soldiers are not drafted (mainly mercenaries and brainwashed puppets) and no peace movement stands up therefor.
The war also made it more acceptable for the general public to invade Iraq and Libya to defend the petrodollar and steal Qadaffi’s gold.
You are absolutely right about that, my comment was just directed at the official “justification” for that war.
Another point: you state that “The ultimate goal will always be Russia for the vast reserves of oils and minerals”. I would slightly modify that:
The ultimate goal is 2-pronged: Russia and China. Those are the 2 that are challenging the US hegemony.