(Last Updated On: May 7, 2021)
The Taliban has captured Afghanistan’s second-biggest dam after months of fierce fighting in its former bastion of Kandahar, the group and officials said, as the US forces have begun the withdrawal of its troops from the country after 20 years, AFP reported.
The Dahla Dam, which provides irrigation to farmers via a network of canals as well as drinking water for the provincial capital, was now under Taliban control, local officials told AFP news agency on Thursday.
A Taliban spokesman Qari Yousuf also confirmed this and said: “We have seized the Dahla Dam in Arghandab.”
Haji Gulbuddin, governor of an adjacent district, confirmed the dam “is now in the control of the Taliban”, AFP reported.
May 7, 2021 Share
Top U.S. defense and military officials are holding out hope the Afghan government will be able to withstand the latest Taliban military offensive, launched days ago as U.S. and coalition troops began leaving the country.
Provincial officials from across Afghanistan have warned of mounting losses in a series of attacks, some with heavy casualties, since the United States officially began its withdrawal on May 1. But the Pentagon insisted Thursday that the withdrawal was “going according to plan,” with no surprises.
“It’s not a foregone conclusion, in my professional military estimate, that the Taliban automatically win and Kabul falls,” General Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters at the Pentagon.
Taliban capture key Afghan dam as fighting rages
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Last Updated: May 06, 2021, 05:08 PM IST
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Dahla Dam, which provides irrigation to farmers via a network of canals as well as drinking water for the provincial capital, was now under Taliban control, local officials told AFP.
AFP
Afghan security forces stand near an armoured vehicle during ongoing fighting between Afghan security forces and Taliban fighters in the Busharan area on the outskirts of Lashkar Gah, the capital city of Helmand province May 5, 2021
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The Taliban have captured Afghanistan s second-biggest dam after months of fierce fighting in their former bastion of Kandahar, the insurgents and officials said Thursday.
The Taliban has captured Afghanistan’s second-biggest dam after months of fierce fighting in its former bastion of Kandahar, the group and officials said, as the US forces have begun the withdrawal of its troops from the country after 20 years.
The Dahla Dam, which provides irrigation to farmers via a network of canals as well as drinking water for the provincial capital, was now under Taliban control, local officials told AFP news agency on Thursday.
“We have seized the Dahla Dam in Arghandab,” Taliban spokesman Qari Yousuf Ahmadi told AFP.
Haji Gulbuddin, governor of an adjacent district, confirmed the dam “is now in the control of the Taliban”.
Threats to Afghan Media by Warring Sides Spark Outrage
Voice of America
07 May 2021, 00:05 GMT+10
ISLAMABAD - Media advocates and international partners of Afghanistan have denounced the Taliban insurgency for threatening local journalists for allegedly not being impartial in their reporting of the country s long war.
The warning coincided with allegations that the chief of the Afghan spy agency had also made a constricting gesture against the local media at a confidential session in Kabul with Afghan lawmakers.
On Thursday, unknown gunmen killed a former Afghan television anchor in southern Kandahar province. The slain man, identified as Naimat Rawan, was currently heading the media section at the Afghan Finance Ministry. No one took responsibility for the attack.