Taliban recaptured town in August, says Afghan official
Agence France-Presse
Urgun (Afghanistan), September 20 -
The Taliban have been in control of a Southeast Afghan town near the Pakistan border since hundreds of them attacked government offices a month ago and sent officials fleeing, a provincial security head said.
Barmal, 220 kilometres south of Kabul and 15 km from the border, was seized by the militants in August, Paktika province security chief Dawlat Khan said on Friday.
Government forces were "chased from Barmal in mid-August after an attack by hundreds of Taliban and Al-Qaeda members coming from Pakistan," Khan said in Urgun, 40 kilometres north of Barmal.
"Barmal has been under Taliban control since then," deputy provincial governor Sado Khan said.
Afghanistan's Southeast border regions are bearing the brunt of an apparent resurgence by the hardline militia, almost two years after they were smashed from power by a United States-led military assault.
Afghan officials, aid workers and the US military have reported an increase in armed attacks especially against humanitarian workers in recent months.
The US military, which has 10,000 troops hunting remnants of the Taliban and their Al-Qaeda allies, has said the Taliban were trying to revive their hardline regime.
Afghan and US officials have reported seeing assailants retreating across the porous border into Pakistan after attacking troops and officials.
At least 10 government militiamen were killed in last month's attack in Barmal. Some had their throats slit.
The local administration building was destroyed by the attackers, who seized a large supply of weapons, according to soldiers who took part in the fighting.
An official close to the deputy governor said the Taliban were "not militarily settled into the town."
"But they come and go freely in the market," he said, requesting anonymity.
Pro-government forces "withdrew north to the neighbouring district of Urgun and have not intervened beyond" the district boundaries, Urgun police chief Jalil Zadra said.
The area is currently totally inaccessible for government representatives and security forces, he said.
Former Barmal security commander Haji Zaher, who lost two sons in the August attack, abandoned his post and fled to neighbouring Khost province.
All other district officials had also fled, according to Zadra.
With the retreat of government forces, the only military in the area are US troops based in Shkin, on the border 10 kilometres from Barmal.
US troops there have come under repeated attack from suspected Taliban since mid-August. The US military has said Shkin was the most regularly attacked base in Afghanistan.
US soldiers on Thursday fought an hour-long gunbattle near Shkin after coming under machine gun and mortar fire. The attackers "retreated toward the Pakistani border," a US military spokesman said.