US steps up bombing in Afghanistan to stop Taliban outpost

Since early May, violence has escalated in several provinces of Afghanistan after the Taliban launched a major offensive days after US-led foreign forces began their final withdrawal from the country.

The offensive led the Taliban to seize dozens of neighborhoods and border posts and surround several provincial capitals, fueling the specter of a resumption of power in Kabul.

“I want to be clear, the Afghan government will be put to severe tests in the coming days, the Taliban are trying to make their campaign irreversible. They are wrong.” General McKenzie said, quoted by the AFP news agency.

The statements by McKenzie, who has overseen US military activities since July 12, come the same day Afghan authorities reported 22,000 families had fled Kandahar in southern Afghanistan because of the fighting.

“Everyone has moved from volatile parts of the city to safer areas,” said Dost Mohammad Daryab, head of the provincial refugee department.

On Sunday, fighting continued on the outskirts of Kandahar, the country’s second largest city with 650,000 residents.

“The neglect of some security forces, especially the police, has led the Taliban to come so close,” said Lalai Dastageeri, vice-governor of Kandahar province. “Now we are trying to organize our security forces,” he added.

Local authorities had set up four camps for the displaced, around 154,000. Residents fear further fighting in the coming days.

“If they really want to fight, they should go to a desert and fight, not destroy the city,” said Khan Mohammad, who moved to a camp with his family, adding: “Even if they win, they can’t run a ghost town.”

Kandahar province was the epicenter of the Taliban regime when it ruled Afghanistan between 1996 and 2001. Driven from power in a 2001 US-led invasion after the September 11 attacks, the Taliban have been ruling ever since an insurgent movement.

Its latest offensive, launched in early May, allowed the group to take control of half of the country’s 400 districts.

The NGO Human Rights Watch spoke of the atrocities committed by the Taliban against civilians in areas under their control, including the town of Spin Boldak, near the border with Pakistan, which they captured earlier this month.

However, authorities announced that four people, presented as Taliban and allegedly involved in the rocket attack on the presidential palace on the first day of Aid al-Ada, have been arrested.