KABUL (SW): Chief of Army Staff Gen. Qadam Shah Shahim claimed on Sunday the armed Taliban wished to shift their Queeta Shura to southern Helmand province this year but this plan has been thwarted by the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF).
Gen. Shahim told this to Masharano Jirga (upper house) while briefing the lawmakers about the security situation across the country. Queeta Shura is one of the most notorious establishments of the Taliban located in the southern Pakistan that controls the Taliban’s activities in the region.
The Army Chief informed the house that the Afghan National Army (ANA) has conducted some 698 operation this year alone across 29 provinces that included 49 special ground operations and 97 aerial offensives. He discarded reports about the existence of ghost soldiers among the ANA ranks.
The Army Chief added the in the next month and a half, ANSF would get four fighter aircrafts that would strengthen the Afghan Air Force (AAF). According to the General, the government also plans to buy more combat aircrafts. About the surging Daesh, Gen. Shahem noted that targeted operations against this militant group have been launched in the eastern parts of the country.
Ayub Salangi, Deputy Minister for Security at the Ministry of Interior MoI was also called by the house to brief the lawmakers over security affairs. Salangi said in his remarks that 2529 operations have been conducted by the MoI forces this year so far. He claimed some 2000 armed rebels have been killed in these offensives and over 2000 more wounded.
ENDS
