Afghan army plans to launch counter-attack on Taliban positions

SANAA, Jul. 5 (YPA) – Afghan government forces are planning to launch a counterattack in the northern areas taken by the Taliban.

Hamdullah Mohib, the Afghan president’s national security adviser, said in a statement to “Novosti Agency” in response to a question in this regard: “Certainly, absolutely, absolutely correct. The Taliban decided to take advantage of the vacuum created by the withdrawal of US and foreign forces and began the offensive without warning, and the Afghan security forces were surprised because, as I said, we waited for peace, not war.”

He stressed that “the people of Afghanistan want to be free,” and he wants to see the “Taliban” within the government, “to have representatives there, but the Afghans do not want the Taliban to rule all of Afghanistan and dictate how the Afghan people should live.”

The Special Envoy of the Secretary-General of the United Nations and the head of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, Deborah Lyons, had said earlier that the “Taliban” movement had seized 50 out of 370 districts in Afghanistan since the beginning of May, coinciding with the departure of US and NATO forces from the country.