Surprise Taliban Attack Kills 25 Police in Southern Afghanistan

Local Officials Say Fighting Continues

Taliban attacks across Afghanistan continued over the weekend, with a surprise attack from Taliban forces from the surrounding area converging on the Zabul Province capital of Qalat, in the nation’s south, killing at least 25 police and wounding 6 others.

Details are still emerging on the situation, with officials saying there are unconfirmed reports of civilian casualties, and Afghan Local Police (ALP) figures saying that fighting against the Taliban in the area is still ongoing, and that they believe they will ultimately defeat them.

While officials confirmed the 25 police killed, they said only some were Afghan National Police, with the rest from ALP, which is a police force in name only, and in much of the country is a quasi-independent collection of US-funded militias run by former warlords.

The Taliban is attacking targets across the country at any given time, and gaining considerable territory in the process, holding more now than at any time since the war began. This is one of the biggest pushes into Zabul in some time, however.

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.