GHAZNI: The fight for the eastern Afghan city of Ghazni entered its third day as Taliban militants and security forces engaged in heavy clashes on Sunday, despite Kabul’s claim that the city was firmly under government control.

Taliban fighters continued to roam the city, torching government offices, and were in control of several police checkpoints, as reinforcements deployed from Kabul slowly entered the area to confront the insurgents.

Residents hid in their homes or attempted to flee the fighting, with basic provisions increasingly scarce and expensive, according to residents and officials.

“The situation is chaotic,” Amanullah Kamrani, deputy head of the Ghazni provincial council, told AFP from Kabul. “In Ghazni, only the police headquarters, governor’s office and a few departments are under Afghan forces’ control — the rest are under the Taliban fighters’ control,” he added.

Ghazni resident Rahmatullah Andar described similar scenes in an interview with broadcaster Tolonews, saying fighting continued to rage in large swathes of the city and outlying districts. “There are not sufficient forces to repel the Taliban fighters. We have not witnessed such a large scale attack by the Taliban before,” said Andar.

Mobile services in the city remained down after militants damaged a telecommunication tower and targeted several media offices in Ghazni, making information difficult to verify.

The descriptions stood in stark contrast to statements from Afghan and US officials, who said government forces were firmly in control of the city and vowed that Ghazni was in no danger of being seized by the Taliban.

The Afghan military said a clearance operation targeting Taliban fighters was ongoing, insisting they remained in control of key government offices.

“The Taliban are hiding in people’s houses and shops... to avoid civilian casualties our forces are moving in slowly,” said General Sharif Yaftali, Afghanistan’s top military official, during a press conference on Sunday.

American forces were also assisting with the fight, which included at least 10 air strikes on Sunday, according to a spokesman for US forces in Afghanistan.

Ghazni — around two hours by road from the capital Kabul — has been under increasing danger from massing Taliban fighters for months, with reports suggesting insurgents had infiltrated the city at will.

The onslaught was the latest attempt by the Taliban to overrun an urban centre and comes as pressure increases on the insurgents to begin peace talks with the government to end the nearly 17-year-old war.

The attack was the largest tactical operation launched by the Taliban since an unprecedented truce in June brought fighting between security forces and the Taliban to a temporary pause, providing war-weary Afghans some welcome relief.

The battle for Ghazni continued as news broke that a Taliban delegation had travelled to Uzbekistan last week to discuss the Afghan peace process and withdrawal of foreign forces with its northern neighbour.

The meetings in Uzbekistan follow recent reports that the Taliban has also sent similar delegations to China, illustrating the group’s rising ambitions to engage in independent talks with foreign governments.

Published in Dawn, August 13th, 2018