Taliban Leader Claims They Control ‘Over Half’ of Afghanistan

As 21WIRE reported recently, the United States’ war in Afghanistan is going nowhere. President Trump’s announcement of a ‘troop surge’ in Afghanistan  has drawn sharp criticism from his most ardent support base – and good reason. After 16 years of occupation in Central Asia, operations in Afghanistan are as corrupt as ever.

Meanwhile, the Taliban continue appear to be growing in strength, and ISIS has also been allowed to expand in the country.

According to the Taliban’s alleged new leader, the extremist group now has control of over half the country.

After the death of Mullah Omar in 2013, Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzada (pictured above), was named leader of the Afghan Taliban in 2016. He was one of Mullah Akhtar Mansour, deputies alongside Sirajuddin Haqqani, leader of the ISI-linked and CIA-linked Haqqani Network based out of eastern Afghanistan.

Southfront reports…

Taliban leader Mullah Hibatullah Akhundzada in a message on the occasion of Eid Al-Adha announced that the departure of all American and NATO forces from Afghanistan is the only solution to end the war and violence in Afghanistan.

He also denied any Taliban links with terrorist attacks and declared that the Taliban controls more than half of the country. However, this claim contradicts to the info provided by the US military.

Gen. John Nicholson, the commander of US and NATO forces in Afghanistan, said that government forces control 62% of the country and the Taliban controls only 10%. The rest of the area is contested, according to the general.

The Pentagon has also confirmed that there are about 11,000 US troops in Afghanistan, including regular troops and special forces. The US is going to send about 4,000 more troops to Afghanistan under the newly declared strategy in the country.

(Translation Provided by SouthFront)

Regardless of the numbers, the Taliban are not going to disappear overnight. But are we meant to believe that all of this is supposed to fixed by a ‘troop surge’?

READ MORE AFGHANISTAN NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire Afghanistan Files

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