New Zealand Herald, 31 July 2021
The NZ daily quotes from AAN research about the general security situation in Afghanistan and information provided by AAN’s Thomas Ruttig by email about the situation in the former NZ deployment area, Bamian:
According to the Afghanistan Analysts Network (AAN), an independent non-profit policy research organisation, the Taliban has already gained control of around half of Afghanistan’s 400 districts – most of them since mid-June – and muscled into provincial capitals, port towns, remote rural zones, border checkpoints and highways.
“The advance of the Taliban in recent weeks is undeniable and significant,” the AAN says. (…)
Armed insurgents stormed into Kahmard district – less than 10km from where the Battle of Baghak took place in the Shikari Valley – on July 12, and the next day took over the Saighan district briefly before a counterattack by government forces drove them away.
Thomas Ruttig, AAN senior analyst, says that although most of Bamyan is currently under government control, there are regular attacks in the Shibar Pass at the provincial border of Parwan and Bamyan on the Kabul-Bamyan Road.
Revisions:
This article was last updated on 5 Aug 2021
