HERAT CITY (Pajhwok): Parliament, provincial council members, civil society activists and journalists of northwestern Badghis province, who fled clashes and took refuge in Herat city, criticized the government for failing to send reinforcements to Qala-i-Naw, the provincial capital.
Abdul LatifOsmani, a parliament member from Badghis, accused the government of negligence and lying to the public about the security situation in Qala-i-Naw city.
Addressing a gathering of other representatives of the province and civil society activists in Herat, he warned Qala-i-Naw would fall to the Taliban if reinforcements and air support did not arrive on time.
“If the government has no ability to defend and deploy additional forces, it should not continue destruction of people; if the situation continues, Qala-i-Naw city would completely collapse,” he said.
ZiauddinAkazai, another representative of Badghis in the parliament, expressed concern over bad security situation of Qala-i-Naw city and accused the government of negligence in providing more security forces for controlling the situation.
He said that not even a single troop was sent to the city for pushing militants back in the last 10 days.
“We want the government and the president to pay attention to the situation in Badghis, the Ministry of Defense has announced that it has prepared reinforcement for Badghis, but it did not send even one, “he said.
Badghis representatives said that only the Afghan National Army brigade, the governor’s house, police headquarters, intelligence headquarters and a road in Qala-i-Naw city were in the control of Afghan forces while all other parts of the province were in Taliban’s control.
Abdul Aziz Baik, head of Badghis provincial council, also blamed the government for the situation in the province and said that over 20,000 families had been displaced and their belongings destroyed as a result of recent conflicts in Qala-i-Naw city.
He said that the displaced families were living in bad condition in neighboring provinces and they had no any shelters and food.
A number of other provincial council members held similar views and said that the conflict was getting closer to the heart of Qala-i-Naw city that also affected civilians.
However, Hasamuddin Shams, Badghis governor, said that a number of additional forces had arrived in Qala-i-Naw city a few days ago, but they were not enough to push the Taliban back.
He said that all Taliban attacks on Qala-i-Naw city were repelled by Afghan security and defense forces and efforts were on to drive away the Taliban.
mds/ma
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