At Least 60 Taliban Killed By Afghan Government In 24 Hours

By Donald Standeford, Correspondent
Date Published: 2021-05-04 02:00AM UTC
Last Modified: 2021-05-04 02:00AM UTC

AFGHANISTAN - The Afghan government says they have killed at least 60 Taliban fighters in the last 24 hours in a number of offensives after taking control of the Antonik U.S. military base, a key base of operations the day before.

The defense ministry said that the offensives were carried out by independent local forces, without any aid or involvement from foreign troops and said that 62 Taliban were killed and 58 others were injured during the operation.

The defense ministry stated that the offensives were a response against 'provocations' by the Taliban and their purpose was to take out the planning centers the Taliban were using to attack Afghan forces.

While it is unknown how many Afghan forces died during the offensive, two anonymous sources allegedly stated that 40 or more Afghan police officers and soldiers were killed during the operation.

With U.S. military pulling out of Afghanistan there has been a rise in conflict in the region and there is expected to be more as the last of the American troops leave the region.

Late last month the Taliban overran an Afghan base in a southeastern Ghazni province, capturing a few dozen Afghan soldiers and killing several more as U.S. and NATO troops were on the way out.

The withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghanistan is likely to result in the Taliban taking control of key towns and roads and ramping up coordinated attacks on Afghan forces.

If the Taliban is able to once again overpower Afghan government forces there may be a resurgence of terrorist activities in the region, as the Al-Queda may once again find themselves a safe haven in the arms of the Taliban.

It is not known how things will play out from here, except that there is about to be a very large power vacuum in the region. Will the Afghan forces be able to hold their own against what is coming?