Washington: The Taliban militant group now controls a total of 212, or roughly half of Afghanistan’s 419 district centres, a top US General said.
“Strategic momentum appears to be sort of with the Taliban,” Xinhua news agency quoted General Mark Milley, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, as saying at a press conference at the Pentagon on Wednesday. “There’s a possibility of a complete Taliban takeover, or the possibility of any number of other scenarios,” Milley said.
“I don’t think the end game is yet written. A negative outcome, a Taliban automatic takeover, is not a foregone conclusion.” While the militants are yet to capture any of the country’s 34 provincial capitals, they are pressuring about half of them, said Milley.
Afghan security forces are consolidating their positions to protect those major urban centres including Kabul, he said. While “strategic momentum appears to be with the Taliban” right now, a lot could happen over the rest of the summer, he added.