KABUL (TCA) — A new report published by the U.S. Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction says the Afghan government lost control of nearly 5 percent of its territory between January and May 2016, despite the delayed U.S. troop withdrawal from the country, RFE/RL reported.
The report said the Afghan government was in control of 65.6 percent of the districts in the country in May, a drop from 70.5 percent near the end of January.
Citing U.S. forces in Afghanistan, the report said the loss of territory to the Taliban was because Afghan forces were redeployed from lower-priority areas to “conduct offensive operations, gain and maintain the initiative, exploit opportunities, and consolidate tactical gains.”
According to the commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, John Nicholson, most of the areas the Taliban control are rural.
The report says that in addition to losing ground to the Taliban, the Afghan National Army has come under pressure from other militant groups, such as the Islamic State group and the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan.
U.S. President Barack Obama announced earlier in July that he will leave 8,400 troops in Afghanistan through 2016, a reversal of his earlier plan to lower that number to 5,500 by January 2017.
In the meantime, an Afghan official says the Taliban has seized control of a strategic district in the poppy-growing province of Helmand, although the governor’s office said there was ongoing fighting between militants and Afghan forces.
Abdul Majeed Akhonzada, deputy director of the provincial council, told the Associated Press that the Kanashin district had “fallen into Taliban hands.”
Akhonzada said the Taliban’s seizure of the district, which borders Pakistan, means the militants “control of 60 percent of Helmand.”
Much of the Marjah, Sangin, Garmser, and Dishu districts had already fallen to the Taliban.
Omar Zwak, the spokesman for the governor of Helmand province, said on July 30 that the clashes continued between Afghan troops and Taliban militants in parts of the district.
