Afghanistan Times
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AT Monitoring Desk-KABUL: The Taliban insurgents making all out efforts with the support of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) to take control of Dangam district in Kunar province, official said.
Kunar Police Chief, Juma Gul Himmat told TOLONews, “Taliban militants want to gain control of Dangam district in order to reach the provincial capital Asadabad, and are doing this with the help of Pakistan’s intelligence agency.”
“The ISI [Inter-Services Intelligence], and totally Pakistan, plotted a strong plan to over-run Dangam district and repeat the Helmand experience here, but they failed to reach their goal, the same as last year,” Himmat said. According to him, security in Dangam is crucial to the security of the entire province. This comes as group attacks by the insurgents in the district have been surged in the recent months.
TOLOnews journalist Sharif Amiri visited Kunar, which shares a border with Pakistan, and spoke to residents affected by insecurity and war in the province. During his visit, Amiri found that insurgents are positioned only two kilometers from the district governor’s office. He said local officials have confirmed that almost 60 percent of Dangam is under serious threat by insurgents.
“A number of movements have been carried out by the enemy in these areas. The enemy has created military teams in parts of the area. They have equipped their fighters near border areas where you can see tanks as well,” the Kunar governor, Wahidullah Kalimzai, said.
Meanwhile, a number of affected residents in Dangam said they have lost relatives in the recent conflict while many have been forced to flee their homes.
“My two cousins were martyred. Four other relatives of mine were also martyred. My son was martyred too. He was killed by the Taliban,” Shah Jahan, a resident of Dangam, said.
“Six members of our family were martyred. People were pushed to leave their houses in our village and its surrounding villages,” Dida Khan, another resident said.
Residents and officials said the mountainous areas in the district are used as safe havens for militants who are fighting against the incumbent government.
Moreover, despite other atrocity, Pakistani troops recently have fired at least 145 missiles in the two district of eastern Kunar province. These missiles landed in Sarkano and Khas districts of the province. In addition to that, the recent shelling by the Pakistani troops left more than 500 families homeless.
Furthermore, to oppose Pakistan’s barbaric act, the Afghan masses across the country took out to the streets to protest artillery shelling, and where chanting anti-Pakistani slogans. In a protest in Asadabad, the capital city of Kunar province, hundreds of residents staged protest against shelling, which so far killed two people. The anger protestors were chanting several anti-Pakistan slogans including “death to Pakistan.” They termed shelling on civilians a cowardly act by the Pakistani army and demanded an immediate halt to it. Previously, in another protest, hundreds of Kabul residents including politicians and civil society came hard against Pakistan for its continuing support to the militancy, and the recent shelling on resident areas in eastern provinces of the country. While chanting slogans against Pakistan, the demonstrators called on the International Community not to turn blind eye over criminal activities of the Pakistani government for carrying out cruel terrorist attacks and rocket shelling into Afghanistan. They also called on International Community to include Pakistan’s name in the United Nation black list for its supporting of terrorism in the region and the world. “Pakistan has to be triggered to the court for its crimes against humanity and the UN has to listen to our voices,” the protesters were chanting.
