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2 ANA bases under attack in Faryab
A number of soldiers stationed in Ghormach district in the northern Faryab province have claimed that they are under siege by militants over the past two months and that they are faced with ‘serious challenges including lack of food’.The military bases are located in Abgarmak and Chinaee regions in the district, soldiers told TOLOnews on Friday. The Ministry of Defense said the route to the Ghormach district is closed and that they support the battalions from air. According to the Defense Ministry, efforts are underway to break the siege and open the road to the district and to the bases. “We provide their food, clothes, ammunition and other needs from air. But the basis of addressing the problem is to open the route and we are working on it,” Defense Ministry spokesman Dawlat Waziri said. “Weak management of military commanders and issues around helping the personnel on time are questionable and worrying,” said Mirdad Nijrabi, head of the internal security committee of the Wolesi Jirga, the Lower House of Parliament. Meanwhile, dozens of Faryab residents at a gathering on Friday slammed the local officials and the leaders of the National Unity Government over ‘negligence in maintaining security of the province’. “All Afghans are tired of your boring games and you (government leaders) know that we have realized your tricks. The people know that you are sacrificing a nation for your own interests,” head of Faryab civil society organization, Sayed Zainuddin Abidi, said. Ghormach was fallen to the Taliban at least one month ago. Security forces however managed to retake the center of the district. Reports indicate that important parts of the district including the routes ending to this part of Faryab are under Taliban’s control. More from al-Manar A suicide attacker driving an explosives-filled vehicle slammed into a convoy of foreign troops in southern Afghanistan on Friday, officials said, with reports of several soldiers wounded. The Taliban claimed the attack which Kandahar provincial governor spokesman Fazal Bari Baryalai told AFP “totally destroyed” one of the vehicles carrying Romanian soldiers in Daman district. Afghan and NATO officials could not confirm reports of casualties but in a WhatsApp message to journalists Taliban spokesman Qari Yousuf Ahmadi said “seven invading forces” were killed. The militants routinely exaggerate battlefield claims. Provincial police chief General Abdul Raziq told AFP the scene had been cordoned off by foreign forces. The Taliban’s latest assault follows the militant group’s pledge to turn Afghanistan into a “graveyard” for foreign forces after US President Donald Trump’s announcement to keep American boots on the ground indefinitely. Earlier this month two Taliban suicide bombers launched separate attacks around Bagram Airfield, America’s largest base in the country, that wounded several US soldiers and civilians. One of those attacks was in direct response to a US leaflet drop in the northern province of Parwan, where Bagram is located, that offended many Muslims in the deeply religious country. The leaflet depicted a lion chasing a white dog — the same color as the Taliban’s flag — with the Islamic statement of faith — “There is no God but Allah, and Mohammed is the messenger of Allah” — superimposed on its body. Dogs are seen as unclean creatures by some Muslims and the association of Islam with a canine angered many people and sparked protests. Source: AFP Posted by: badanov 2017-09-16 |
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