A photo of the Taliban special forces with western weapons.
On March 14, Taliban fighters captured two checkpoints of the Afghan Army and Police in the Deh Yak area around the city of Farah, the capital of the western Farah province, the Taliban news agency Voice of Jihad reported. During the attack, the Taliban lost one fighter and killed 15 servicemembers of the army and Police. Several weapons and loads of ammunition were captured.
Since the beginning of 2018, the Taliban has captured most of the key positions around Farah city after a series of brutal attacks. 53 serivcemembers of the army and Police were killed and injured in a single attack on March 10.
Several members of the Afghan Parliament warned during a session on March 14 that the situation in Farah is catastrophic. They said that the casualty toll among members of security forces increased dramatically in the past few months.
“In Farah the best members of the national army have been killed. Taliban have killed a few Special Forces and have their bodies with them,” Afghan MP Abdul Sattar Darzabi said, according to the Afghan TOLO TV.
MPs even accused the NATO of not supporting security forces in Farah and ignoring the Taliban threat there. So far, the NATO has not taken any serious steps to improve the security situation around the city, according to local observers.
“Resolute Support [NATO] forces sometimes come to Farah and carry out air strikes in some regions of the province and then leave. Resolute Support forces did not provide any visible support to ANSF during recent battles.” TOLO quoted Afghan MP Musa Nusrat as saying.
The NATO will likely ignore the Afghan MPs warnings like it ignored several warnings of Afghan officials on January 18 and 19 regarding the critical situation in Farah. Furthermore, the Afghan Army can’t support Farah on its own because it lacks resources for this.
