Afghan Interior Minister Reveals Intent to Push Back Taliban | FR24 News English

The Afghan government is arming local groups as part of a three-phase plan to repel the Taliban offensive, the Afghan interior minister told Al Jazeera in an exclusive interview.
Afghan Interior Minister Gen. Abdul Sattar Mirzakwal said on Wednesday Afghan forces are also focusing on securing major highways, cities and border crossings, after the Taliban took nine fewer provincial capitals. of a week.

Mirzakwal, who took over the country’s 130,000 police forces five weeks ago, said the government was supporting local volunteer militias known as “uprising movements.”

“We are working in three phases. The first is to stop the defeats [of the government forces], the second is to join forces to create security rings around cities, ”Mirzakwal told Charlotte Bellis of Al Jazeera, who traveled with the minister to Wardak province in central Afghanistan.

“All these soldiers who have abandoned their posts, we are bringing them back to their posts. The third is to start offensive operations. For the moment, we are entering the second phase, ”he added.

In the past three months, the Taliban have more than doubled their territory and last week began to take provincial capitals, seizing nine on Wednesday....