Taliban turning Kunduz to another front line: Journalist
Talking to Press TV, Fayez Khorshid, a journalist from Kabul, has noted that the military pressure on the Taliban is growing in Helmand, which is why they are attempting to turn Kunduz into another front line.
Afghan commandos have repelled a Taliban attack on Kunduz a day after the militants pushed to the city center. Fierce gunbattles raged for a second day Tuesday across the city where the militants were hiding in civilian homes.
“No one can deny that the Taliban have not been fully defeated over the past 15 years in Afghanistan,” Khorshid mentioned, saying they now have a different stronghold. “They are no longer in the south, like Helmand and Kandahar.”
Khorshid pointed out that Kunduz is a “very strategic” place. “It's on the border [linking Afghanistan] to Tajikistan and other Central Asian countries. And now it's another front line, another battlefield between Afghan forces and the Taliban militants.”
Several issues have added to security concerns of the Afghan people, the journalist noted. “It's not only the Taliban. The emergence of the ISIL (Daesh) has also worried the Afghan people and we see that the number of Taliban insurgents is growing and the Taliban now want to change Kunduz into another front line.”
The military pressure has increased on the Taliban in Helmand, he said, adding most of them have arrived in Kunduz Province and are now controlling most of that region. "It's a big challenge to both the Afghan government and people."
Khorshid holds the opinion that both a military solution and a political settlement are needed to overcome the Taliban, since the Afghan government, along with its international allies, failed to win this war. “They almost couldn't get an upper hand over the Taliban militants and other terrorist groups that started operating here in Afghanistan,” he argued.
“Now the Afghan government has started a sort of political settlement approach to bring the Taliban and other terrorist groups to the negotiating table, but unlike other terrorist groups, the Taliban have very interesting demands. They want the Afghan Constitution to be amended very quickly; they don't love to see Afghan women go to college or school; and they want their own version of Sharia law to be implemented in this country,” Khorshid said.
According to the journalist, Most of the Taliban are Wahhabis and they are keen to see a government similar to that of Saudi Arabia assume power in Afghanistan.
Khorshid referred to the Afghan government's uncompromising stance of not accepting any of their (the Taliban) demands; adding that means they have “no other choice” but to go ahead with the “military operations.”
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