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US withdrawal fuels Taliban upsurge in rural Afghanistan

Since the US troops pullout began in early May, many Afghan military outposts located in rural Afghanistan went into the hands of the Taliban resulting in fear of their resurgence.

Since the US troops began the planned pull-out from Afghanistan where they have fought an unsuccessful decades-long war, more than 26 Afghan army outposts in rural areas like Laghman, Baghlan, Wardak and Ghazni have went into the hands of the dreaded extremist terror group Taliban.

Many of the men have surrendered due to the lack of reinforcements to protect them in case of increased hostilities. Also ammunition supplies and salary for the past 5 months have never reached these men, making their fight against the more equipped Taliban nearly impossible.

These men have been given money and clothes with a video-graphed promise that they will never again join the Afghan military, contact details have been taken to keep a tab on them. This is part of a demoralizing tactic employed by the Taliban on the Afghan army.

Taliban enlisted village elders to visit the outposts bearing a message: Surrender or die. “We told them, ‘Look, your situation is bad — reinforcements aren’t coming,” said Nabi Sarwar Khadim, 53, one of several elders who negotiated the surrenders.

These outposts include 4 district centres which house the local police chiefs, intelligence officers and governors, this effectively means the Taliban have the government facilities on a platter which can be used in future for their own administration.

Such negotiations were common earlier too but not at a scale being seen now, since the US troops started to withdraw from May 1st and if the plan goes on successfully by September 11 the pull-out would be completed.

As the morale of the security forces plummets due to the international troop exit, the Taliban have managed to gain official ammunitions, offices and vehicles without even firing a single bullet. According to reports the Taliban have significant presence outside 4 provincial capitals and have threatened to cut off highway links leading to garrisons creating a fear of their resurgence and end of the democratic rule.

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