Shadi Khan Saif
24 May 2021•Update: 24 May 2021
KABUL, Afghanistan
Afghanistan's Defense Ministry on Monday said a major Taliban offensive was pushed back in the eastern Laghman province bordering Kabul, with at least 50 insurgents killed.
The counter-terrorism operation against the advancing Taliban was directly supervised by the country’s army chief Gen. Yaseen Zia.
According to the ministry, at least 50 Taliban were killed and over 60 injured when special units of the security forces pushed back the insurgents' coordinated assaults in Mehtarlam, Alingar and Alishang areas.
"Our brave security forces are continuing their operations and the enemy has sustained a heavy blow, soon more good news will emerge," Zia said in a video statement.
The Taliban on the other hand claimed to have overrun a number of check posts in the province and confiscated a cache of arms and ammunition.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid posted videos on Twitter showing a large cache of arms, vehicles, and ammunition confiscated by the Taliban from various check posts overran in Laghman.
On Thursday, security forces went on a "strategic retreat," as the Interior Ministry called it, in the province's Dawlat Shah district to avoid civilian casualties amid a mounting Taliban onslaught. However, the Taliban claimed to have overrun this district.
In less than a month, this was the third district overran by the Taliban in Baghlan, Maidan Wardak and Laghman provinces as the country witnesses mounting assaults by the Taliban on the heels of the withdrawal of foreign troops.
After US President Joe Biden's announcement that American troops will leave Afghanistan by Sept. 11 this year, deadly violence returned to the country following a three-day truce for the Muslim holy festival of Eid al-Fitr.
