The Taliban recently started using amateur drones to bomb Afghan government forces, the head of intelligence told parliament on Monday (November 23).
Read also: Australia admits its soldiers committed war crimes in Afghanistan
“
In some incidents, the Taliban have used drones.
They used it in the provinces of Paktia (east) and Kunduz (north).
But there aren't many,
”explained Ahmad Zia Siraj, head of the National Security Directorate (NDS), answering questions from deputies.
The devices used by the insurgents are “
camera drones
,” which anyone can buy off the shelf, which are then modified to drop bombs, Siraj added.
The NDS wants to ban its importation into Afghanistan, he said.
In late October, media reported that drones had been used to bombard the governor's residence in Kunduz.
If this technique is new in the arsenal of the Taliban, the Islamic State (IS) group had used remote-controlled planes and amateur drones as a weapon of war in Iraq and Syria in 2016.
IS has been active in Afghanistan since 2015, where it carries out often bloody operations.
The jihadist group claimed responsibility for several attacks in the capital in recent weeks, against an educational center in October (24 dead), against Kabul University in early November (22 dead), and rocket fire on Saturday (10 dead).
Afghan government officials have repeatedly accused the Taliban or their allies of being responsible, which they have denied.
Violence has increased across the country in recent months, despite ongoing talks between Kabul and the insurgents since September 12 in Doha, where progress has been slow.
The United States announced last week the withdrawal by mid-January of some 2,000 troops from Afghanistan, accelerating the timetable established in an agreement signed in February in Doha between Washington and the Taliban which confirmed the withdrawal. full force by mid-2021.