By: Suraya Raiszada
KABUL: The country’s Defense and Security Forces have launched 154 exact military operations killing 1,528 insurgents and wounding numerous others in 20 of the country’s 36 provinces, within the last one week, the spokesperson of Joint Armed Forces said the other day.
Following widespread Taliban attacks in a number of provinces and districts of the country, Gen. Ajmal Omar Shinwari, the spokesman of the Joint Armed Forces told a news conference here in Kabul that more than 1,500 insurgents have been killed during the week-long air-and-ground operation by the country’s defense and security forces.
The spokesman added that in addition to the killing of 1,528 enemy personnel, 801 fighters have also been wounded and 16 others arrested.
Also, the country’s defense and security forces managed to detect and neutralize 104 landmines planted by the enemy in different areas, the spokesman added. He assured that the operations of the country’s defense and security forces in many areas have repelled enemy attacks after the security and defense forces shifted from defensive towards offensive mode in conflicted sites.
Shinwari went on as saying that over the past one week, the Taliban militants have killed 14 civilians in a number of areas of the country and wounded 29 others in the past week.
He also said that the forces have retaken control of more than 30 districts so far and that in most parts of the areas, defensive bases have been established or strengthened and that 16 other Taliban fighters have also been detained by the government forces.
According to the spokesman, Taliban militants have killed 14 civilians and wounded 29 others.
“A large number of public infrastructures and government facilities in the war-torn areas have also been destroyed or set on fire by the militants,” said the spokesman.
Meanwhile, the Taliban have intensified their attacks in the country in recent months and in less than three months, more than 100 districts have fallen to the Taliban control. Government officials say Taliban have committed war crimes by displacing about 400 families and shooting dead nearly 100 civilians in most of the areas under their control, particularly in Spin Boldak border township of the country’s southern Kandahar province and Malistan district of Ghazni province.
Meantime, experts believe that in order to carry out the operations better, it is necessary to equip the country’s army, because if the forces were properly equipped and strengthened, they can overcome any security challenges and defeat the enemy everywhere in the country.
Afghan forces can restrain the enemy’s attacks because in some cases, lack of equipment on the battlefields has helped the armed oppositions to attack the Afghan forces on their checkpoints.
They believe that if the forces do not have enough and accurate information about the enemy’s offensive operations, the will suffer casualties and the intelligence system of the country’s must be strong so that the forces can suppress insurgencies everywhere.
This comes as the Chief of the National Security Council ordered the security forces to intensify their attacks on the government’s armed opposition two months ago, to prevent both security forces and civilians casualties.