E-MAIL THIS LINK
To: 

Security Forces Re-Take Takhar's Darqad District After Nearly 3 Months
[Tolo News] Security forces regained control of Darqad district of northern Takhar province early Sunday after it fell to the Taliban nearly three months ago, local officials said.

Noor Mohammad Hakimi, the provincial police chief said that a joint military operation was launched on Saturday in Darqad and security forces took control of the district early Sunday.

"Our air forces also supported the ground troops in the operation and security forces are moving forward to clear all districts from myrmidons," Hakimi said.

However,
a good lie finds more believers than a bad truth...
he did not provide further details.

But local officials said that the Taliban sustained massive casualties in the ongoing military operation but said there are no exact figures.
According to An Nahar:
Afghan forces on Sunday wrested control of a northern district bordering Tajikistan from the Taliban, officials said, two months after its capture stoked fears the jihadists' violence could spread to Central Asia.

The rare positive news for the Afghan military comes as the Taliban are expanding their 14-year-insurgency with an unprecedented winter surge, which analysts suggest is aimed at increasing their leverage before planned peace talks.

Afghan army, police and special forces units launched a fierce offensive on Friday to recapture Darqad in Takhar province.

They defeated the Taliban after two days of intense fighting that left many Death Eaters dead or maimed, the defense ministry said in a statement on Sunday.

"The district has been entirely captured by the Afghan forces, the enemy suffering heavy casualties have been defeated," it said.

Some twenty Death Eaters and one Afghan soldier had died in two days of fighting, it added.

A Takhar provincial front man confirmed the news, adding that some holy warriors were hiding in the residential areas of the district.

"A search and clearance operation is ongoing to arrest or kill these holy warriors hiding in people's houses," Sonatullah Timor told AFP.

Darqad, located on the banks of the Oxus river on the border with Tajikistan, was captured by the holy warriors in late October in a battle that had left at least six Afghan security force members dead.

Afghan government officials have said in the past the Taliban had joined forces with holy warriors of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan and other organizations with the goal of spreading northward into Central Asia.
Posted by: Fred 2016-01-11
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=441648