Afghan Govt Claims 117 Militants Killed in 24 Hours

Military Claims Two Soldiers Also Slain in Fighting

According to an Afghan government security briefing, the Afghan military killed 117 Taliban and/or ISIS militants over the last 24 hours in offensives targeting 18 of the country’s 34 provinces. They also claimed 50 militants wounded and two captured.

The statement only offered real details in one case, an attack in Helmand Province against a Taliban “hideout,” which they said killed 27 and wounded 16. Four heretofore unknown Taliban “commanders” were among the slain.

Other than one of the many other offensives hitting the Kunduz Province, there weren’t really details on what else happened, beyond this massive claimed death toll. The Afghan military often makes such claims of gaudy death tolls among Taliban fighters, with few casualties on their own side. The army noted two troops killed “in the same period,” but offered no details on that either.

Though some of the dead were attributed to airstrikes, it is extremely unlikely that the Afghan military routed the Taliban to the point where 117 militants were killed and only two members of the Army. In most recent battles in Helmand, the two sides have appeared relatively evenly matched. It is also noteworthy that the military claimed all these killings but no territory taken over.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.