GOV/MIL First Afghan Provincial Capital Falls to Taliban

Techwreck

Veteran Member
Nice of us to leave them the bases and humvees.....


First Afghan Provincial Capital Falls To Taliban, Rolling Through City In US Humvees
Tyler Durden's Photo

BY TYLER DURDEN
FRIDAY, AUG 06, 2021 - 11:45 AM
For the first time amid the Biden-ordered US troop exit from Afghanistan a provincial capital has fallen to the Taliban, also as they make broad gains in various parts of the country, and as insurgent attacks and assassinations begin to reach deep within the capital of Kabul itself.
Zaranj, the capital city of Nimruz province which lies in the southwest near the border with Iran, and with a population of an estimated 160,000, was taken by the Taliban on Friday, according to The Washington Post. A statement by Nimroz's police force described the Taliban rapidly and easily captured the city due to "a lack of reinforcements from the government." And The New York Times is also calling it a significant "symbolic victory" wherein the advancing Islamists "faced little resistance". Some reports are suggesting not so much as a single shot was fired.

Video footage was quick to emerge showing Taliban patrols in city streets, including long lines of US Humvees driven by bearded Taliban militants flying the flag of jihad, with prisoners "streaming out of the city's prison" - as described in The Long War Journal:

Jihadists and other independent sources on social media have posted videos of Taliban fighters patrolling the city. The images also show them in control of the military base, as well as Zaranj Airport. Taliban fighters were photographed outside the governor’s compound and the headquarters of the National Directorate of Security, Afghanistan’s intelligence agency. Prisoners are streaming out of the city’s prison.
Video from inside Zaranj shows prisons being emptied out...


Prisoners running out of the prison in Zaranj the capital of Nimroz province. pic.twitter.com/gbtuQKptD5
— BILAL SARWARY (@bsarwary) August 6, 2021
And looting underway...


This puts the Taliban in control of a major trade route to Iran and source of customs revenue to the tune of millions of dollars. Currently national forces are struggling to hang on to other provincial capitals, including Lashkar Gah in neighboring Helmand province, where US-backed troops are said to be surrounded in the center of town.

The below video shows the Taliban rolling through Nimruz's provincial capital with American-made Humvees while flying their flag of jihad:


Taliban fighter surveys local military base now under the group's control...



Meanwhile, the Taliban has begun insurgent attacks inside Kabul, starting with a suicide-bomb and gun attack on Kabul's Green Zone on Wednesday which killed at least eight people. The car bomb attack had targeted Afghanistan's acting defense's minister's home.

American-supplied Humvees have of late been captured in droves by the jihadists as many bases and equipment were often simply abandoned by US and Afghan national forces...



On Friday a top official was assassinated by gunmen along a popular road. The head of Afghanistan's Government Media and Information Centre (GMIC), Dawa Khan Menapa, who had also worked as President Ashraf Ghani's spokesman, was killed in what the Taliban said was an operation to dole out "punishment" against the US-backed government.
 

Grumphau

Veteran Member
As long as Afghanistan's political ideology is Islam this will keep happening. It would take a leader with the mindset of Genghis Khan to subdue that that country. There is no way to "win" there and be a "good guy". We needed to wash our hands of them as soon as Bin Laden's body hit the floor.
 

Housecarl

On TB every waking moment
Posted for fair use.....

Taliban takes full control of Nimruz province, seizes capital

By Bill Roggio | August 6, 2021 | admin@longwarjournal.org | @billroggio


The Taliban took control of Zaranj, the capital of Nimruz province, without a fight. The western locale is the first provincial capital to fall under Taliban control since it launched its offensive across the country in May.
Jihadists and other independent sources on social media have posted videos of Taliban fighters patrolling Zaranj. The images also show them in control of the military base, as well as Zaranj Airport. Taliban fighters were photographed outside the governor’s compound and the headquarters of the National Directorate of Security, Afghanistan’s intelligence agency. Prisoners are streaming out of the local prison.
Some of these images were produced by Taliban spokesman Qari Yousaf Ahmadi, but additional sources confirm the fall of Zaranj.

View: https://twitter.com/QyAhmadi21/status/1423611219131256839?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1423611219131256839%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.longwarjournal.org%2Farchives%2F2021%2F08%2Ftaliban-takes-full-control-of-nimruz-province-seizes-capital.php


[Translation: This afternoon, the governor’s office, command and many other facilities in Zaranj, the capital of Nimroz province, fell into the hands of mujahidin and the remaining areas are being cleared.]

View: https://twitter.com/HAfghan8/status/1423609064689389573?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1423609064689389573%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.longwarjournal.org%2Farchives%2F2021%2F08%2Ftaliban-takes-full-control-of-nimruz-province-seizes-capital.php


[Translation: Nimroz airfield and the rest of the battalion were also completely conquered. Takbir Allah Akbar and Allah Alhamdulillah.]
Afghan journalist Bilal Sarwary confirmed that the Taliban now controls Zaranj.


“Zaranj city becomes the first provincial capital to fall to the Taliban without a single shot being fired,” Sarwary noted on Twitter.

View: https://twitter.com/bsarwary/status/1423605626706464775?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1423606075203465217%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es2_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.longwarjournal.org%2Farchives%2F2021%2F08%2Ftaliban-takes-full-control-of-nimruz-province-seizes-capital.php


The Taliban takeover of Zaranj is a major victory for the group, which is also battling for control of multiple other provincial capitals. Government forces are currently clinging to a cluster of buildings in the center of Lashkar Gah, the capital of Helmand, as the Taliban controls the rest of the city. The Taliban is in control of neighborhoods in Kandahar and Herat cities, and is launching frequent assaults in other capitals, such as Taluqan, Kunduz City, Ghazni City, Mitharlam, and Shiberghan.


Zaranj, which is on the border with Iran, is a major trade route and was a source of customs income for the Afghan government. The Taliban now operates four of the six major border crossings, and is collecting millions of dollars in revenue daily.


The Taliban’s objective is to restore its Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, either via force or by diplomacy. It is currently fighting to impose its repressive regime on the Afghan people.


Bill Roggio is a Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and the Editor of FDD's Long War Journal.
 

The Hammer

Has No Life - Lives on TB
As long as Afghanistan's political ideology is Islam this will keep happening. It would take a leader with the mindset of Genghis Khan to subdue that that country. There is no way to "win" there and be a "good guy". We needed to wash our hands of them as soon as Bin Laden's body hit the floor.
Yep. The British, Russians, and now Americans have been completely unable to bring Afghanistan under control...
 

aznurse

Veteran Member
Yes our spineless politicians who ignored our failure in Vietnam. And played word games with war powers act to avoid congressional roadblock to our involvement.
 
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