KABUL (SW): Following a sudden surge of militancy in the north of the country, Afghan officials on Wednesday asserted that the security forces were too good to be defeated by the Taliban and there was no question of the militants taking over even a single district of the country.
Earlier, the north eastern Badakhshan and now the northern Kunduz province has witnessed swift and coordinated attacks by group of militants believed to be of Central Asian and Chechen descent. Tens of casualties have been reported from the both sides.
Syed Sarwar Hussaini, the provincial police spokesman told journalist At least 25 militants have been killed in Kunduz today.
The Ministries of Defense and Interior held a press conference in the capital Kabul today to defuse the fears about fall of strategically important Kunduz to the militants.
Brigadier General Daulat Waziri, the Defense Ministry spokesman, said that the Afghan National Army (ANA) was busy fighting the militants on 21 fronts across the country. “The militants have suffered heacy casualties on these fronts, 48 militants have been killed, 42 more wounded and 10 arrested during past 24 hours”, he said.
Waziri added that the security forces were strong enough to defend the country and they will not allow a single inch of the country to fall. He claimed to have eliminated the group of militants behind brazen attacks on security check posts in Badakhshan that claimed the lives of 33 ANA soldiers.
Alongside Gen. Waziri, the Interior Ministry spokesman too informed the media about emerging situation in Kunduz.
Sidique Siddiqui said the security forces were carrying out their operations carefully because militants were using villagers as human shields in Kunduz. “The backbone of Taliban has been broken, their commander Mullah Mustafa has been killed with his whole group in the Imam Saheb district”, he announced.
There have been reports about NATO’s aerial support to the Afghan security forces as they fight to thwart militant’s attack on three districts surround the provincial capital of Kunduz.
President Muhamamd Ashraf Ghani had to postpone his trip to India for hours to monitor the emerging situation in Kunduz on Monday.
