Taliban Commander Who Led Attack on Afghan City Was Released From Prison Last Year, Officials Say

KABUL—The Taliban commander overseeing an assault on the important southern city of Lashkargah is a single of 5,000 former prisoners unveiled by the Afghan govt past 12 months below force from the U.S., Afghan and Western officials say.

The commander, Mawlavi Talib, is a single of hundreds of former prisoners freed to further more peace talks who have returned to the battlefield to join the Taliban onslaught towards towns close to the state, Afghan officials say. The presence of the Taliban fighters is a clean pressure in relations amongst Washington and Kabul, as the U.S.-backed govt struggles to fend off Taliban assaults throughout the state.

Afghan officials explained fierce fighting continued Tuesday in Lashkargah, the provincial money of Helmand province, after large U.S. airstrikes and a counterattack by U.S.-properly trained Afghan commandos right away. Less than Mr. Talib’s command, hundreds of Taliban have pushed towards the city centre more than the past 7 days. On Tuesday they released an attack on Lashkargah’s jail in a bid to launch more inmates and recruit them into the struggle.

The fighting in Lashkargah is element of a broader countrywide Taliban offensive that had captured 50 % of the country’s distant districts by past thirty day period and now threatens provincial capitals. On Tuesday, the govt explained that its commandos released a counterattack in the western city of Herat, whose defenses ended up teetering. Taliban forces past thirty day period pierced defenses in Kandahar, Afghanistan’s second largest city, but govt forces are holding constant there.

Afghanistan’s Defense Ministry explained Tuesday its forces killed close to 375 Taliban and wounded 193 in fighting across the state in the past 24 hrs. Eleven improvised explosive gadgets ended up found and defused, the ministry explained. The Afghan govt has stopped releasing figures on its very own armed forces casualties to steer clear of demoralizing its troops.