Acting Defense Minister Gen. Bismillah Mohammadi on Monday assured his forces on the battlefield in the central province of Maidan Wardak that the Taliban cannot win through their military campaign and reiterated that war is not the solution to ensure peace in the country. 

Mohammadi visited the volatile province of Maidan Wardak on Monday where he said that now the people, too, are ready to fight against the Taliban in support of the security and defense forces. 

“War is not the solution,” he said. “If it was a solution, it would have shown its results in the last 20 years.”

He added: “Therefore if they (Taliban) want to win militarily and impose violence on the people of Afghanistan, they would take this dream to the grave. They should realize that it is not possible through violence.”

Parwan, Maidan Wardak, Logar and Laghman are the four neighboring provinces of Kabul where some districts have fallen to the Taliban in the last two months. But operations have been launched to retake these areas from the group.

“It would be a bitter experience for the Talibs if they want to repeat their past once again,” Maidan Wardak governor Lawang Faizan said.

Taliban offensives intensified after the announcement of the withdrawal of US and coalition forces in April. Figures collected by TOLOnews show that over 100 districts have fallen to the Taliban in the last two months. 11 districts have been retaken by security forces.

The fall of districts in Kabul’s neighboring provinces has created concerns among residents of the capital city, but security forces on the frontlines pledged that they will continue their efforts to push back Taliban attacks in those areas.

In Parwan province in the north of Kabul, a group of public uprising forces has joined the security forces on the frontlines in the Dara-e-Ghorband area to prevent the Taliban from reaching the city of Charikar that lies 60 kilometers to the north of Kabul.

The public uprising forces said they will defend against threats to Parwan and Kabul.

“The Taliban will not succeed in imposing anything on us. This would be a dream for them,” said Dost Mohammad, a public uprising forces member.

“If they have a bit of love for this country, they should not bow to the demands of strangers,” said Fayiz Sayidkhili, a commander of public uprising forces in Parwan.