PUL-I-KHUMRI (SW): Vice President Gen. Abdul Rasheed Dostum said on Monday in the northern Baghlan province that the militants were using Kunduz province as their command and control center in the north of the country.
Dostum, who has been seen with the Afghan National Army (ANA) forces on the frontline in northern Faryab and Badghis provinces for weeks now, went to Baghlan today. Dostum told reporters the militants would be completely flushed out and their centers in Kunduz destroyed.
“These militants here would subsequently fall if they did not surrender once we hit them in Kunduz, Kuduz is their center where a number of foreigners including Uzbekistanis, Chechens and Pakistanis are present, once we clean Kunduz, we will have peace as far as Top Khana in Badakhshan (north eastern edge of the country)”, he said.
Safdar Mohseni, head of the Baghlan Provincial Council urged the VP to help eliminate the menace of terrorism. “We are under siege and the government forces here don’t get supply and assistance in time so please deploy an Afghan National Army (ANA) battalion here”, he said.
Separately, seven armed rebels, two members of the Afghan Local Police (ALP) and two civilians have been reported dead in northern Faryab province. Baryalay Bashiryar, spokesman for the Provincial Police Department said the casualties occurred in Qaisar, Pashtun Kot and Kohistan districts.
The Taliban however, have claimed to have killed a number of ALP men in Faryab.
ENDS
