Afghan officials have confirmed that during an attack in Baghlan Province in the north, Taliban fighters have totally destroyed an Afghan Army base, killing 12 soldiers within, abducting two, and wounding three others.
In addition to the slain soldiers, the Taliban also killed four tribal elders, as they planted explosives to destroy the base, and the elders were within trying to help recover the bodies when the explosives went off.
The Taliban have been carrying out several simultaneous attacks in different parts of the country for weeks now, forcing the Afghan government to choose which will get reinforcements, and which are left to their own devices. In general, places without reinforcements get overrun outright in short order.
That appears to be the case with this weekend’s Baghlan loss, as the Afghan government was focused on trying to slow a Taliban advance in central Ghazni Province, and Baghlan simply lacked the number of fighters to keep the Taliban away from the base.
Baghlan has been infested with Taliban for several years, and their success there is important because of Baghlan’s geographical position astride a principal logistical route. The Soviet-built Salang Tunnel is a chokepoint, with thousands of vehicles per day going through a crumbling structure.
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AFGHANISTAN has been infested with AMERICANS for several years, and their success there is important because of AFGHANISTAN’S geographical position astride a principal logistical route.