Dozens of Afghan police and soldiers were killed Saturday night into Sunday morning in the Farah and Zabul Provinces, in a series of Taliban attacks mostly targeted Afghan military checkpoints.
Exact death tolls are unclear, with Afghan officials reporting 20 killed, and the Taliban reporting 25 killed in Farah, along with a district police chief slain in Mizan. Officials also report at least 11 soldiers were captured.
The Taliban have been stepping up attacks in recent weeks, hitting checkpoints in remote parts of Afghanistan. In such areas, the security forces almost never have enough fighters to hold them off without reinforcements, and coordinated attacks mean Afghan officials have to decide which places get reinforcements.
In the lead-up to parliamentary elections, such attacks are underscoring how much worse security across Afghanistan is getting, and that the Afghan government’s ability to provide any security at all is very limited.