Afghanistan: Taliban ransacks Marshal Abdul Rashid Dostum’s house, loots his weapons

Kabul [Afghanistan], August 9 (ANI): Days after Marshal (Afghan National Army) Abdul Rashid Dostum returned to Afghanistan last Wednesday, the Taliban on Sunday ransacked his house and looted all his weapons from Jawzjan province.

In a video, it was seen that the Taliban was ransacking his house and looting his arms and loading them into a vehicle in Khawja Do Koh district.

Scores of Taliban terrorists were seen carrying AK-47s into the vehicle.

The former vice president has been in Turkey for months, where he was believed to be receiving medical treatment. Dostum has returned to Afghanistan as the Taliban inch closer to taking control of his longtime stronghold in the north and fight for control of a string of cities elsewhere.

Dostum has overseen one of the largest militias in the north (Northern Alliance) along with Ahmad Shah Massoud who was considered as Sher-e-Panjshir, which garnered a fearsome reputation in its fight against the Taliban in the 1990s. Fighting in Afghanistan’s long-running conflict began to intensify in May when the US and other foreign forces began the final stage of a withdrawal due to being completed later this month.

The Taliban already control large portions of the countryside and are now challenging Afghan government forces in several large cities. The Afghan and US militaries have stepped up airstrikes against the group, and the Taliban warned that they would target senior government officials in retaliation. Heavy fighting is underway between Afghan security forces and the Taliban in central parts of three northern provinces of Kunduz, Sar-e-Pul and Jawzjan with reports of civilian casualties in the clashes.

The clashes in Kunduz have reached the center of the city of Kunduz in northeastern Afghanistan, sources said. Some key government buildings have fallen to the Taliban, the sources added, reported Tolo News. Meanwhile, sources said that Babur Ishchi, head of Jawzjan provincial council, was surrounded by the Taliban along with his 20 fighters after hours of clashes against the group in Khawja Do Koh district, which is the hometown for former vice president Marshal Abdul Rashid Dostum and was one of the two areas under government control in the province.

The Taliban have captured Takhar province’s capital Taluqan city on Sunday amid US troops’ withdrawal from Afghanistan. “Key areas in Takhar province’s capital Taluqan city, including the central roundabout, fell to the Taliban today, sources said,” Tolo News tweeted. This comes after the terror group captured the police headquarters, the governor’s compound and the prison in the Afghan provincial capital Kunduz.

Earlier, the Taliban took control over Jawzjan province’s capital Sheberghan and Nimroz province’s capital Zaranj. (ANI)