National Security Adviser Hamdullah Mohib on Tuesday assured the Afghan people that the Afghan National Security and Defense Forces (ANDSF) will retake all districts that have fallen to the Taliban.

Mohib said that the Taliban, by increasing the level of violence, has shown they are not willing to make peace, and that the people are ready to fight the Taliban alongside the ANDSF.

“We will recapture the district centers’ buildings, the people are our strong supporter in this, you witnessed in some districts that the people came out along with their weapons,” said Mohib.

In the latest development, the Taliban have taken over the centers of another 6 districts.

In Kandahar province, at least one civilian was killed in PD7 of the city and 24 more wounded in a car bomb blast near a police station.

“I call on the Taliban and the government to finalize a peace, there is a need for peace in Afghanistan,” said Gul Bashra, a resident in Kandahar.

“We were sitting along with the children here when the explosion happened,” said Ehsanullah, a resident in Kandahar.

“Why did these districts collapse despite all this equipment, personnel and equipment against only ten to 20 people,” said MP Sadiq Qaderi.

Sources said that the Taliban have taken over Ghoryan and Chisht districts of Herat, Muqur and Ab Kamari districts of Badghis, Delaram district in Nimroz and Shighnan district of northern Badakhshan province. 

However, the Afghan Ministry of Defense (MoD) said that the ANDSF has repelled several attacks by the Taliban during this period.

The Defense Ministry said that security forces also killed 261 Taliban fighters in the past 24 hours.

The Taliban have denied these numbers of casualties.

“We came out in support of our forces, we will defend them at the cost of our heads,” said senator Ibrarullah Murad, MP.

Meanwhile, in eastern Nuristan province, a large number of people have taken up arms to fight against the Taliban.

Nevertheless, Tajikistan has deployed an additional 20,000 troops along the border with Afghanistan amid the increasing presence of the Taliban in the northern regions of Afghanistan.