KABUL – At least 100 Afghan security forces have been killed as troopsbacked by US airpower struggled to push the Taliban from embattled Ghaznicity, officials said Monday, while residents reported food and medicineshortages four days after fighting began.
Ghazni lies along the major Kabul-Kandahar highway, effectively serving asa gateway between Kabul and the militant strongholds in the south. The USforces in Afghanistan said they have been conducting airstrikes daily sincethe fighting began.
The insurgents seized control of the districts of Khawaja Omari north ofthe city and Ajrestan in the west, with officials saying dozens of Afghansecurity forces were killed or missing. Confusion over one deployment ofcommandos headed for Ghazni also raised concerns, with local mediareporting up to 100 special forces troops were missing. An official at theMinistry of Defense denied the reports.
The fighting fuelled an increasingly fevered political atmosphere ahead ofOctober´s parliamentary elections, as concern grows over potential securitythreats from the Taliban and other armed groups. Diplomats in Kabul saidthe government had admitted being taken by surprise by the attack.
US forces in Kabul denied reports that the highway had been blocked by theinsurgents, saying Afghan forces remained in control of the area and werecarrying out a clearance operation targeting militants. The Afghanofficials said U.S. special forces units were on the ground helping tocoordinate air strikes and ground operations and the U.S. military said itsaircraft had launched two dozen air strikes since Friday. “U.S .advisersare assisting the Afghan forces and U.S. airpower has delivered decisiveblows to the Taliban, killing more than 140 since August 10,” said Lt ColMartin O´Donnell, the spokesman for U.S Forces-Afghanistan.
“About 100 security forces have lost their lives and between 20 and 30civilians have been killed,” defence minister Tariq Shah Bahrami told apress conference in Kabul, offering the first high-level official casualtyfigure since the insurgents entered the city. He also said that 194insurgents had been killed and 147 wounded. The Taliban swiftly responded,saying the government´s claims were “baseless” and that talks were “underway for their surrender”.
The Afghan government controls Ghazni, he said, adding there was no threatof collapse from “isolated and disparate” Taliban forces, with Highway 1,the main route from Kabul, open. “That said, clearing operations areongoing and sporadicclashes with the Taliban, particularly outside thecity, continue,” he said.
The attack on Ghazni, the Taliban´s heaviest blow since they came close tooverrunning the western city of Farah in May, has hit hopes of peacespawned by a surprise three-day truce during June´s Eid al-Fitr holiday.Doctors were struggling to treat dozens of wounded at hospitals in theeastern provincial capital, where residents said insurgents roamed thestreets.
At a hospital in the city wounded people could be seen groaning in agony onstretchers, while uncovered wooden coffins filled with bodies were laid onthe floor. A doctor in the hospital´s intensive care unit said they hadreceived over 80 dead bodies as of Sunday and had treated more than 160patients, many of whom were had been injured by gunshots or shrapnel.
An AFP reporter in the city said late Sunday that militants were going doorto door and commandeering supplies including water, tea, and wheelbarrowsto move injured fighters.
Ghazni residents who arrived in Kabul after fleeing the violence told AFPthat the dead bodies of militants and soldiers continued to litter thestreets, while government offices have been set ablaze by Taliban fightersand food prices are rising.Communication networks in Ghazni remained mostlydown, and officials have been reticent, making any information difficult toverify and fuelling rumours of high tolls. -APP/AFP