Afghanistan Times
Related Articles
By Parwiz Arian
KABUL- Afghan security forces as result of a heavy military operation regained control of Dehrawod district of southern Uruzgan province back from the Taliban, local officials said Thursday.
During the regaining operation of the district, Taliban suffered casualties but their exact number is not clear yet, a local official told Afghanistan Times on the condition of anonymity.
“Taliban are pushed out of the district center and security forces now control the district center” a security official in Uruzgan said, without providing further details.
The district fell to the hands of Taliban in mid-November as a result of heavy fighting during which Afghan security forces retreated to a nearby army base in the district.
The capture of the district by Taliban was part of the Taliban’s large scale armed attacks in southern Kandahar, Helmand and Uruzgan provinces in the past two months.
The district was the first to fall to the Taliban after the US and Taliban signed a peace agreement in February this year.
There were large scale armed Taliban attacks in neighboring Kandahar province yesterday (Wednesday) as well, during which 85 Taliban fighters were killed in a counter attack by the Afghan security forces.
Taliban attacks have increased in recent few months in the country particularly in the south.
Due to such attacks 134 civilians have been killed and another 342 civilians were injured in the past one month, according to the Ministry of Interior.
Armed violence is on rise throughout the country in recent few months despite the fact that Afghan were expecting a ceasefire or at least a significant reduction in violence with the start of the intra-Afghan talks.
But during the past nearly three months of negotiations the government and Taliban representatives have only agreed on rules and procedures for the talks. The two sides have now tasked working committees to prepare a draft of the agenda of the talks, in which ceasefire is expected to be one of the top topics on the agenda.
