Taliban Control Large Swaths Of Afghanistan

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Long War Journal: Taliban controls or contests scores of districts in Afghanistan

While fighting for control of the provincial capital of Kunduz, the Taliban launched a wider offensive in the Afghan north aimed at seizing control of districts in four provinces: Badakhshan, Baghlan, Kunduz, and Takhar. Since Sept. 28, the Taliban has taken control of nine districts in these four provinces and another in the western province of Farah.

The Long War Journal has been tracking the Taliban’s attempts to gain control of territory since NATO ended its military mission in Afghanistan and switched to an “advise and assist” role in June 2014. The map, above, is an attempt to document the Taliban’s advances since the summer of 2014. The districts displayed (red for Taliban contested, black for Taliban control) include only those where The Long War Journal was able to determine a Taliban presence based on open source information, which includes press reports and the Taliban’s claims of control. While the Taliban does exaggerate in its propaganda, its territorial claims have proven to be mostly accurate in the past.

WNU Editor: Even an Afghan general is admitting that the Taliban ... in a sign of confidence ....  may move their provisional government to Afghanistan .... General Raziq: Taliban plan to shift Quetta Shura to Helmand (Khaama Press).