Afghan Commandos Overwhelmed by Taliban Attack in Kandahar

Numerous police surrendered to Taliban

Policemen in the Kandahar Province called in an SOS, and commandos were sent to rescue them Tuesday, but found themselves under intense Taliban attack, with IEDs damaging several vehicles to the point of non-functionality.

Ultimately, the last policeman, who was wounded, was rescued, and transported away. The commandos then tried to recover some of their destroyed vehicles, with limited success.

Kandahar has always been one of the main strongholds of the Taliban, and this sort of fighting came to remind everyone that the region remains, like so much of Afghanistan, contested.

The rescued policeman is recovering, and reported that at the start of the fight there were 15 police, but that all of the others surrendered in the course of two days of fighting.

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.