By Abdullah Achakzai in TOLO News, 05 Nov, 2020 at 8:28 PM
Gen. Yasin Zia, Chief of Army Staff on Thursday said that the Afghan security forces have cleared Zherai and Panjwai districts of the Taliban.
Officials from the Ministry of Defense said that the military operation will continue in those districts to help displaced families to repatriate safety to their homes.
“The Taliban wanted to create chaos and horror in suburbs of Kandahar city. They used civilians as shield like what they do during their suicide attacks. First they appeared in Arghandab’s green belt and did not allow the people to come out of their homes, therefore our operation moved slowly,” said General Zia.
“In joint cooperation and coordination between the national police and the national army and rest of the security agencies, we managed to recapture all fallen areas,” said colonel Amanullah, the commander of Afghan Army Brigade in Panjwai.
Two week back the Taliban launched a major offensive on Panjwai, Arghandab and Zherai districts.
Panjwai was one of the safest districts in the southern region of the country. The Taliban attacked Panjwai after nine years.
“Our national and local police forces made tactical retreat. We are on defensive status now,” said Janan, a member of Afghan local police.
Panjwai once was one of the strongholds of the Taliban in Kandahar. Reports say that shops and businesses are still closed in the district.
“The clashes started at 1:30 and continued till 4:00pm, but now I don’t know about the scale of the conflicts,” said Abdul Hai, a resident in Panjwayee.
As well as last month, the Taliban launched an attack on outskirts of Lashkargah city, the center of the southern province of Helmand. The attack on Lashkargah left thousands of people homeless.
The Afghan forces later on retook the fallen checkpoints.
https://tolonews.com/afghanistan-167566
