Taliban assassinate head of Afghan government’s press office in his car outside a mosque in Kabul
Taliban assassinate head of Afghan government’s press office in Kabul as Islamists also seize control of their first regional capital
- Dawa Khan Menapal, head of Afghan media centre, shot dead in Kabul on Friday
- He was sitting in his car outside a mosque for Friday prayers when he was killed
- Taliban fighters also captured first regional capital – Zaranj, in Nimroz province
- American forces are now sending bombers and drones from Qatar to help defend other regional capitals of Lashkar Gah, Herat and Kandahar
The Taliban has assassinated a senior Afghan government official inside his car in the capital Kabul as it steps up its bloody drive to recapture the country.
Dawa Khan Menapal, head of the government’s media information centre, was shot dead near a mosque in the city on Friday, just a day after defence minister Bismillah Mohammadi escaped a bomb and gun attack.
Meanwhile, the group’s Islamist fighters captured their first regional capital – Zaranj, in Nimroz province near Iran – marking their most-significant battlefield victory against government forces to date.
American forces are now sending B-52 bombers, AC-130 gunships and Reaper drones to try and push the jihadists back from other capitals such as Lashkar Gah, Herat and Kandahar, which have come under heavy attack in recent days.
Dawa Khan Menapal, head of the Afghan government’s media information centre, was shot dead in his car outside a mosque in Kabul on Friday
Taliban gunmen attacked the car as it was sitting outside a mosque following Friday prayers, leaving Menapal dead
The assassination marks the most senior government official the Taliban have killed during their latest effort to retake the country, and shows they can mount attacks in the capital
The sorties are being launched from al-Udeid airbase in Qatar, with aircraft flying over Pakistan before hitting their targets in Afghanistan, The Times reported.
It appears America’s hand has been forced after the Afghan airforce all-but collapsed after Joe Biden ordered US forces out of the country earlier this year.
The troops took with them an army of contractors that were being used to maintain the helicopters and jets Afghan pilots were hoping to use to defend against the Taliban assault.
Menapal had been outspoken against the Taliban, including mocking the Islamists on social media
More than a third of the force’s 162 aircraft are thought to be out of action due to a repair blacklog and lack of spare parts.
Pilots – who have also been targeted for execution by the Taliban – are said to be exhausted and demoralised due to non-stop missions, while munitions are also running low.
The Taliban have quickly recaptured much of Afghanistan behind the backs of withdrawing US and NATO forces, who began departing the country earlier this year after two decades of fighting.
Due to be complete by the end of August, in fact sources on the ground say the withdrawal is in-effect complete already.
President Ashraf Ghani has put the Taliban’s rapid advance down to pulling his forces back into cities which are easier to defend and crucial for control of the country.
A major Taliban assault on those cities is now underway which will decide the fate of the country.
Ghani’s hope and that of his western allies is that the Taliban can be fought to a stalemate, at which point they may return to stalled peace negotiations and work out some kind of power-sharing deal.
If the Taliban emerge victorious from these battles, then the country will almost certainly fall back into the group’s hands – making a mockery of two decades of western intervention.
The Taliban also captured its first regional capital – the city of Zaranj, in Nimroz province near the border with Iran, as it pushed to retake control of the country
The worst-case scenario would be that neither side is able to score a killing blow but refuse to negotiate, dragging the conflict out into a long and bloody civil war of the kind seen in the Nineties from which the Taliban first emerged.
Analysts and observers warn that would make Afghanistan a haven for terror groups, including ISIS, to move into an operate in.
Menapal’s assassination is the most high-profile killing the Taliban has carried out during the most-recent campaign, and shows it is able to operate within Kabul – one of the few cities that is not yet under direct attack.
‘He (Menapal) was a young man who stood like a mountain in the face of enemy propaganda, and who was always a major supporter of the (Afghan) regime,’ said Mirwais Stanikzai, a spokesperson of the interior ministry.
Elsewhere Taliban fighters intensified clashes with Afghan forces and attacked militias allied with the government, officials said, stretching their dominance of border towns and closing in on two provincial capitals.
The Afghan and US militaries have stepped up air strikes in their fight against the insurgents in a string of cities, and the Taliban said Tuesday’s Kabul raid was their response.
Fighting in Afghanistan’s long-running conflict has intensified since May, when foreign forces began the final stage of a withdrawal due to be completed later this month.
Afghan government forces are seen in the city of Herat, where they have scored a rare victory against the jihadist group
Afghan government forces in Herat, one of the few regional capitals holding out well against the Islamists who are attacking in force across the country
The Taliban already control large portions of the countryside, and are now challenging government forces in several provincial capitals.
Government forces continue to hit Taliban positions with air strikes and commando raids, and the defence ministry boasted Friday of eliminating more than 400 insurgents in the past 24 hours.
Both sides frequently exaggerate battlefield casualty figures, making independent verification virtually impossible.
But even as Afghan officials claimed to be hitting the Taliban hard, security forces have yet to flush out the militants from provincial capitals they have already entered – with hundreds of thousands of civilians forced to flee in recent weeks.
Social media was also filled with videos of the devastating toll the fighting has taken in the southern city of Lashkar Gah, with posts showing a major market area in flames.
Aid group Action Against Hunger said its offices had been hit by an ‘aerial bomb’ in the city earlier this week, according to a statement released by the organisation on Friday.
‘The building was marked from the street and roof as a non-governmental (NGO) organisation, and the office location has been communicated often to the parties involved in the conflict,’ said the group, adding that no staff had been harmed.
In the western city of Herat, a steady stream of people were leaving their homes in anticipation of a government assault on positions held by the Taliban.
‘We completely evacuated,’ said Ahmad Zia, who lived in the western part of the city.
‘We have nothing left and we do not know where to go,’ he told AFP.
