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Taliban attacks kill 24 police in Helmand; Officials
Taliban attacks on a district in the southern Afghan province of Helmand province killed at least 24 police officers over the past two days, an Afghan official said on Sunday.
Kareem Atal, the director of Helmand’s provincial council, said that battles between government forces and militants have been raging in the Kanashin district since late Friday, when the Taliban took control.
The fighting has spread north to other districts, where militants are targeting checkpoints and have killed at least seven policemen, he said.
The police and government compounds in the Nad Ali district have been surrounded by insurgents, Atal said. Taliban fighters are also trying to close key highways across the province.
Atal said that the police — who also fight on the front lines in Afghanistan’ relentless insurgency — had received no help or backup from other branches of the security forces, including the army.
The fall of Kanashin and the subsequent threats to other districts were the result of a “lack of coordination among Afghan forces,” Atal said, adding “The Afghan national army is not doing their job.”
Atal’s deputy Abdul Majeed Akhonzada earlier said that the Taliban were now in control of 60 percent of Helmand province, after about six months of fighting.
Helmand is a key opium producing and smuggling region. About 90 percent of the world’s heroin is produced from Helmand opium, which is largely controlled by the Taliban for funding their war.
Elsewhere, in northern Jawzjan province, an official described “tough fighting” after hundreds of insurgent fighters attacked the Qush Tepa district.
The governor’s spokesman Mohammad Reza Ghafoori said Afghan security forces were waiting for airstrike backup. He said the insurgents’ ranks included Pakistanis, Uzbeks and Chechens.
Four Afghan security forces personnel have been killed, and another three wounded, he said.
AP
The deputy prime minister for policy, Mawlavi Abdul Kabir, met with Nooruddin Azizi, Acting Minister of Commerce and Industry, at Sapidar Palace on Tuesday and discussed issues around the quality of domestic products and the need to grow and develop the industrial sector.
Azizi said that good trade relations with neighboring countries has resulted in stable prices of goods in the country.
He said the Ministry of Commerce and Industry works closely with the private sector. As a result, the private sector functions in a befitting manner and the Islamic Emirate has provided necessary facilities.
Azizi said that based on the Islamic Emirate’s good economic policies, there has been a significant development in the import/export sector in the country.
Kabir in turn voiced appreciation for efforts by the leadership of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry and said: “The unprecedented efforts of the IEA’s administrations and the stability of the Afghan currency caused the price of food ingredients to remain in the right state and our people also be able to buy essential materials.”
He emphasized the need to work for a balance in trade with neighboring countries, and said more efforts were needed to improve the quality of domestic products and to grow the sector.
Russia and Tajikistan conducted a joint four-day military exercise along the border with Afghanistan in order to be prepared for any “potential threats”, Tajik media reported this week.
Russian military personnel from the 201st military base in Tajikistan participated in this exercise. Reports stated military personnel practiced various combat tactics, especially tactics to counter terrorist groups that illegally enter Tajikistan.
This comes amid repeated concerns expressed by Afghanistan’s neighbors about what they claim are terrorist threats originating from Afghanistan.
The Islamic Emirate has not yet commented on the drills but has repeatedly denied the presence of terrorist groups in the country. The IEA has also continuously said no militant group will be allowed to threaten another country from Afghanistan.
The Media Violations Commission has ordered Noor and Barya TV channels to stop broadcasting and to appear in court, state-run Bakhtar News Agency reported on Tuesday.
ّIt is said that the decision against the channels was taken for “not observing the principles of journalism.”
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