President Ashraf Ghani has announced that new security and internal security ministers will be on the brink of violence as the Taliban demand more territory.
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has replaced two more senior ministers in charge of security operations, as the Taliban continue their campaign to seize new territories in the face of dangerous warfare by government forces.
The shift in security and internal security units comes as violence and peace talks were disrupted, with the Taliban reportedly seizing more than 40 units in recent weeks in the mountainous region.
The president announced in a statement on Saturday that General Bismillah Khan Mohammadi, who had fought in the war under the leadership of anti-Taliban leader Ahmad Shah Massoud during the civil war in the 1990s, has been appointed the new security minister.
He replaces Asadullah Khalid, who has been in the business since 2018 and has been out of the country repeatedly to recover from a suicide bombing in 2012.
Mohammadi had previously served in security and internal affairs and also served as a military commander after the fall of the Taliban government following a 2001 US-led invasion.
Ghani has also appointed General Abdul Sattar Mirzakwal as interior minister, the president said. Mirzakwal has already won several titles.
‘A strong and practical system’
The new cabinet reshuffle, which must be approved by parliament, comes as violence escalates in early May following the start of a U.S. military coup. Traditional removal in its last remaining groups.
US President Joe Biden has set September 11 – the 20th anniversary of the US invasion of Afghanistan – the deadliest expulsion of US troops.
Since the Pentagon began withdrawing on May 1, the Taliban have launched a series of threats to the military.
The military has said it has received more than 40 posts since the beginning of May, forcing military leaders to return discreetly to several rural states.
On Saturday, local officials said the Taliban had seized six more states in the country since Friday, forcing representatives of the government to surrender or evacuate.
The most recently deceased areas are in the provinces of Takhar, Faryab, Jawzjan, Samangan, Farah and Paktia, according to officials.
In one attack, at least 20 members of a high-ranking commando group were shot dead by the Taliban in hiding north of Faryab on Wednesday, several officials told AFP news agency.
Afghanistan has 34 provinces and about 400 provinces. Regions also serve as secondary administrators, one level at the base of the provinces.
The Taliban are now found in almost every province and have surrounded several major cities – a tactic used by the military in the mid-1990s when they defeated many Afghans until they were ousted by a US-led force.
On Saturday, the Ministry of Defense confirmed that government troops had returned to several states but said they wanted to reinstate them.
“There is a new, stronger and more effective way to rehabilitate the areas where we have regained our strength,” Ministry spokesman Rohullah Ahmadzai said, dismissing claims that hundreds of troops had volunteered for the Taliban.
