KABUL: The United States will continue the air strike to support the Afghan forces who fight the Taliban, the top of the US Sunday, when rebels suppress offensive throughout the country.
Since the beginning of May, violence has surged after a guerrilla launched an attack of sweeping just a few days after US-led foreign troops began their final withdrawal.
Turning off the Taliban attack has seen rebels capturing a number of districts, border crossings and surrounding several provincial capitals.
“The United States has increased air strikes in supporting Afghan forces for the past few days, and we are ready to continue this level of support that is increasing in the coming weeks if the Taliban continues their attack,” General Kenneth McKenzie, head of the US Army Central Command, told reporters in Kabul.
McKenzie admitted that there were difficult days ahead for the Afghan government, but insisted that the Taliban were not close to victory.
“The Taliban tried to create an inevitable feeling of their campaign.
They were wrong,” he said.
“Taliban’s victory cannot be avoided.” McKenzie’s statement came when Afghan officials in the southern province of Kandahar said the battle in the region had transferred around 22,000 families in the past month.
“They have all moved from volatile districts to a safer area,” Dost Mohammad Daryab, head of the provincial refugee department, told AFP.
On Sunday, the battle continued on the outskirts of Kandahar.
“The negligence of several security forces, especially the police, has made the road for the Taliban to close it,” Lalai Dastagei, Deputy Governor of Kandahar Province, told AFP.
“We are now trying to arrange our security forces.” The local authorities have established four camps for displaced people estimated at around 154,000.
Resident Kandahar Hafiz Mohammad Akbar said his house was taken over by the Taliban after he escaped.
“They forced us to leave …
I now live with my family of 20 members in a compound without a toilet,” Akbar said.
Residents expressed concern the interests of battle may increase in the next few days.
“If they really want to fight, they have to go to the desert and fight, do not destroy the city,” said Khan Mohammad, who moved to the camp with his family.
“Even if they win, they can’t rule the city of ghosts.” Kandahar, with 650,000 residents, is the second largest city in Afghanistan after Kabul.
The southern province was the center of the Taliban regime when they ruled Afghanistan between 1996 to 2001.
Expelled from power in the US-led invasion in 2001 after the September 11 attacks, the Taliban had pioneered a deadly rebellion which continued to this day.
The latest offensi they launched in early May have seen groups controlling half of 400 countries.
Earlier this week, Chairman of US treasures General Mark Milley said the Taliban seemed to have a “strategic momentum” on the battlefield.
The Global Human Rights Group of the Human Rights said that there was a report that the Taliban committed atrocities against civilians in the area they had arrested, including in the city of Spin Baskak near the border with Pakistan which they took earlier this month.
“Taliban leaders have denied responsibility for any violations, but more evidence of expulsion, arbitrary detention, and murder in the area under their control raised worries between the population,” said Patricia Grossman, said the director of HRW in a statement.
Meanwhile the authorities announced that they had arrested four men they said belonging to the Taliban, accusing them of carrying out this week’s rocket attack in Kabul.
“The Taliban commander, Momin, along with three other men, has been arrested.
They belong to the Taliban group,” Ministry spokesman Mirwais Stanikzai said to reporters in a video message.
At least three rockets landed near the palace on Tuesday as President of Ashraf Ghani and the top officials did outside prayers to mark the beginning of the Eid al-Adha Muslim vacation.
But the attack was claimed by the Jihadis Islamic State group.