Paktia governor Haleem Fedayee, on Thursday said that Taliban infiltrators in the ranks of the security forces played a key role in the fall of the districts to the Taliban.

Also, a number of tribal elders helped the Taliban take over the districts, Fedayee said. 

Meanwhile, residents in Paktia have expressed alarm over the security forces leaving their checkpoints without resistance.

The centers of nine districts have fallen to the Taliban in the past one week.

“The presence of infiltrators among the tribal elders and the security forces in this situation is very perilous, this will have negative consequences,” said Haleem Fedayee, governor of Paktia.

“Some agents among the tribal elders and the security forces wanted to demoralize the security forces, but the morale of the security forces is very high,” said Yarbaz Hamidi, MP from Paktia.

“When the Taliban arrived, they were large in number; the tribal elders started mediation and the entire security forces surrendered and handed over their military equipment,” said Baryalai Maftoon, a resident of Zazai Aryoub district in Paktia.

Paktia has 14 districts. The centers of nine districts including Janikhel, Dand-e-Pathan, Samkanai, Zazai Aryoub, Ahmadkhel, Lazhamangal, Mirzaka, Sayed Karam and Rohani Baba have fallen to the Taliban.