Taliban on warpath, targets innocents and civilians in Afghanistan
The Taliban offensive in the wake of the withdrawal of foreign troops has led to a humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has said that most of the people are fleeing from northeastern and eastern Afghanistan where the insurgent group is concentrating all its energy to capture the areas and re-establish the Islamic Emirate.
The terrorists have ramped up their push across much of Afghanistan, turning their guns on provincial capitals after taking large swaths of land in the mostly rural countryside. They are in control of five of the country’s 34 provincial capitals.
The Taliban fighters attacked the Ahmad Shah Abdali Kandahar Airport on Sunday, firing several rockets on the building. Flight operations were suspended for a few hours following the attack.
Toofan Omari, a journalist and head of radio station Paktia Voice, was shot dead by the Taliban fighters in Kabul, according to the police. Omar was also a prosecutor in Paktia province. He was travelling from Bagram to Kabul when his car was ambushed.
Revenge attacks and repressive treatment of women have been reported in areas now under Taliban control. The insurgent group kidnapped two policewomen in Ghazni city and have been keeping them at an unknown location.
Children are the worst sufferers. Mustapha Ben Messaoud, chief field operations for UNICEF in Afghanistan said that by the end of this year, one in two children under the age of five in Afghanistan will be mentally ill or malnourished due to malnutrition and will not be able to attend school.
A heart-wrenching video emerged from the Taliban’s recent attack on Takhar province. A toddler was killed in the attack and his sister was seen crying and trying to wake the boy up.
With Taliban attacks increasing, Afghan security forces and government troops have retaliated with airstrikes aided by the United States. The fighting has also raised growing concerns about civilian casualties.
Helmand health department chief Sher Ali Shakir said Monday that in the previous 24 hours, seven people were killed and 95 were wounded in the fighting and were transferred to hospitals in the province.