The Afghan Defense Ministry has issued a statement claiming to have killed 30 Taliban in Kapisa Province on Sunday evening. The attack saw several villages and the Afghania Valley hit, and they declared it “cleared” of militants.
That’s a large number killed, but the most noteworthy part of the statement is that 16 of the slain were Pakistanis, and they were all declared “members of al-Qaeda.” That would be in keeping with government allegations that the Taliban are in league with al-Qaeda.
Yet this comes just days after the Taliban’s own statement warning members not to associate with al-Qaeda under any circumstances. It’s not surprising that the government would want to undercut this message, but this might also be a reason to doubt the claim, as Kapisa has never exactly been a major al-Qaeda hideout.
Fighting in small villages tends to be unusual at any rate, which would make it unusual for the Taliban to have a handful of people in each village in this valley, let alone a few Pakistanis hanging out with them.
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