Afghanistan: 'We have won the war, America has lost', say Taliban - Printable Version +- Ipoh Community Forums (https://forums.ipoh.com.my) +-- Forum: News and Current Affairs (https://forums.ipoh.com.my/forum-11.html) +--- Forum: International News (https://forums.ipoh.com.my/forum-13.html) +---- Forum: Politics (https://forums.ipoh.com.my/forum-55.html) +---- Thread: Afghanistan: 'We have won the war, America has lost', say Taliban (/thread-1344.html)

Afghanistan: 'We have won the war, America has lost', say Taliban - superadmin - 04-15-2021 Driving to Taliban-controlled territory doesn't take long. Around 30 minutes from the northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif, passing large craters left by roadside bombs, we meet our host: Haji Hekmat, the Taliban's shadow mayor in Balkh district. Perfumed and in a black turban, he's a veteran member of the group, having first joined the militants in the 1990s when they ruled over the majority of the country. The Taliban have arranged a display of force for us. Lined up on either side of the street are heavily armed men, one carrying a rocket propelled grenade launcher, another an M4 assault rifle captured from US forces. Balkh was once one of the more stable parts of the country; now it's become one of the most violent. Baryalai, a local military commander with a ferocious reputation, points down the road, "the government forces are just there by the main market, but they can't leave their bases. This territory belongs to the mujahideen". It's a similar picture across much of Afghanistan: the government controls the cities and bigger towns, but the Taliban are encircling them, with a presence in large parts of the countryside. - More -