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Afghan President Ashraf Ghani on the fight against the Taliban: "We are determined to repel their attacks"
Photo: STRINGER / REUTERS
The Taliban have recently advanced further and further in Afghanistan.
They fired rockets at an important airport and came very close to the city of Herat.
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani now blames the rapid withdrawal of US troops for the desolate security situation in the country.
"The reason for our current situation is that the decision was made abruptly," Ghani said in parliament.
He warned Washington of the "consequences" of the withdrawal.
The United States provided the largest contingent in the international mission.
Since the start of the withdrawal, the radical Islamic Taliban have made significant territorial gains.
After conquering rural regions, they are now moving ever closer to important provincial capitals.
Taliban launch offensive on several provincial capitals
On Monday night, the Taliban attacked the country's second largest city, Herat, as well as the provincial capitals Laschkar Gah and Kandahar.
There had already been heavy fighting there over the weekend, from which thousands of civilians fled.
In Laschkar Gah, capital of Helmand province, the Taliban attacked the city center and the prison at the same time.
"The Afghan armed forces have repulsed the attacks on the ground and from the air," said the military in Helmand.
The government has announced that it will be sending additional combat units to the area.
Fierce fighting also broke out again on Monday in some districts of Kandahar province and in the outskirts of the provincial capital of the same name.
On Sunday, the insurgents had already fired rockets at the strategically important Kandahar airport.
"The threat in these three provinces is great, but we are determined to repel their attacks," said the spokesman for the Afghan security forces, Adschmal Omar Shinwari, on Sunday.
Ghani sees Afghanistan as "an unholy coalition of international terrorism."
According to Ghani, the Afghan authorities have drawn up a six-month plan to fight the Taliban.
The president admitted, however, that the insurgents were no longer a "dispersed and inexperienced movement."
"We are dealing with an organized command and an organized leadership backed by an unholy coalition of international terrorism and its supporters."
According to experts, the capture of one of the major urban centers of Afghanistan by the Taliban would change the dynamics of the conflict in favor of the Islamists.
Observers fear that after the complete withdrawal of NATO troops, the Taliban could regain control of Afghanistan.
Ghani again appealed to the Taliban to work together to find a peaceful solution.
Talks between the government and the Taliban in Doha have not made any progress for months.
fek / AFP / Reuters
