Police headquarters falls to Taliban in southern Afghanistan | The Business Standard
Skip to main content
  • Latest
  • Economy
    • Banking
    • Stocks
    • Industry
    • Analysis
    • Bazaar
    • RMG
    • Corporates
    • Aviation
  • Videos
    • TBS Today
    • TBS Stories
    • TBS World
    • News of the day
    • TBS Programs
    • Podcast
    • Editor's Pick
  • World+Biz
  • Features
    • Panorama
    • The Big Picture
    • Pursuit
    • Habitat
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Mode
    • Tech
    • Explorer
    • Brands
    • In Focus
    • Book Review
    • Earth
    • Food
    • Luxury
    • Wheels
  • Subscribe
    • Get the Paper
    • Epaper
    • GOVT. Ad
  • More
    • Sports
    • TBS Graduates
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • Gallery
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Magazine
    • Climate Change
    • Health
    • Cartoons
  • বাংলা
The Business Standard

Friday
July 25, 2025

Sign In
Subscribe
  • Latest
  • Economy
    • Banking
    • Stocks
    • Industry
    • Analysis
    • Bazaar
    • RMG
    • Corporates
    • Aviation
  • Videos
    • TBS Today
    • TBS Stories
    • TBS World
    • News of the day
    • TBS Programs
    • Podcast
    • Editor's Pick
  • World+Biz
  • Features
    • Panorama
    • The Big Picture
    • Pursuit
    • Habitat
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Mode
    • Tech
    • Explorer
    • Brands
    • In Focus
    • Book Review
    • Earth
    • Food
    • Luxury
    • Wheels
  • Subscribe
    • Get the Paper
    • Epaper
    • GOVT. Ad
  • More
    • Sports
    • TBS Graduates
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • Gallery
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Magazine
    • Climate Change
    • Health
    • Cartoons
  • বাংলা
FRIDAY, JULY 25, 2025
Police headquarters falls to Taliban in southern Afghanistan

South Asia

UNB/AP
12 August, 2021, 12:40 pm
Last modified: 12 August, 2021, 12:46 pm

Related News

  • Charge sheets filed in 12 cases filed over mass uprising: Police HQ
  • Thousands of Afghans secretly moved to Britain after data leak
  • Most recent incidents involving minorities not communal: Police Headquarters
  • ICC issues arrest warrants for Taliban leaders over persecution of women and girls
  • Russia becomes first country to recognise Taliban government of Afghanistan

Police headquarters falls to Taliban in southern Afghanistan

The fighting around Lashkar Gah has raged for weeks

UNB/AP
12 August, 2021, 12:40 pm
Last modified: 12 August, 2021, 12:46 pm
Taliban fighters patrol inside the city of Farah, capital of Farah province southwest of Kabul, Afghanistan, Wednesday, Aug. 11, 2021. Photo :UNB/AP
Taliban fighters patrol inside the city of Farah, capital of Farah province southwest of Kabul, Afghanistan, Wednesday, Aug. 11, 2021. Photo :UNB/AP

The Taliban captured a police headquarters Thursday in a provincial capital in southern Afghanistan teetering toward being lost to the insurgents as suspected US airstrikes pounded the area, an official said.

Fighting raged in Lashkar Gah, one of Afghanistan's largest cities in the Taliban heartland of Helmand province, where surrounded government forces hoped to hold onto the capital after the militants' weeklong blitz has seen them already seized nine others around the country.

Afghan security forces and the government have not responded to repeated requests for comment over the days of fighting. However, President Ashraf Ghani is trying to rally a counteroffensive relying on his country's special forces, the militias of warlords and American airpower ahead of the US and NATO withdraw at the end of the month.

The Business Standard Google News Keep updated, follow The Business Standard's Google news channel

While the capital of Kabul itself has not been directly threatened in the advance, the stunning speed of the offensive raises questions of how long the Afghan government can maintain control of the slivers of the country it has left. The government may eventually be forced to pull back to defend the capital and just a few other cities as thousands displaced by the fighting fled to Kabul and now live in open fields and parks.

The fighting around Lashkar Gah has raged for weeks. On Wednesday, a suicide car bombing marked the latest wave to target the capital's regional police headquarters. By Thursday, the Taliban had taken the building, with some police officers surrendering to the militants and others retreating to the nearby governor's office that's still held by government forces, said Nasima Niazi, a lawmaker from Helmand.

Niazi said she believed the Taliban attack killed and wounded security force members, but she had no casualty breakdown. Another suicide car bombing targeted the provincial prison, but the government still held it, she said. The Taliban's other advances have seen the militants free hundreds of its members over the last week, bolstering their ranks while seizing American-supplied weapons and vehicles.

Niazi criticized ongoing airstrikes targeting the area, saying civilians likely had been wounded and killed.

"The Taliban used civilian houses to protect themselves, and the government, without paying any attention to civilians, carried out airstrikes," she said.

With the Afghan air power limited and in disarray, the US Air Force is believed to be carrying out some series of strikes to support Afghan forces. Aviation tracking data suggested US Air Force B-52 bombers, F-15 fighter jets, drones and other aircraft were involved in the fighting overnight across the country, according to Australia-based security firm The Cavell Group.

It's unclear what casualties the US bombing campaign has caused. The US Air Force's Central Command, based in Qatar, did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday.

Meanwhile, the Taliban appeared to be pressing into the capital of Ghazni province, some 130 kilometers (80 miles) southwest of Kabul. Wahidullah Jumazada, a spokesman for the provincial governor in Ghazni, acknowledged the insurgents had launched attacks from several directions on the capital, but insisted the government remained in control.

The Taliban posted a video online claiming they had made it inside the provincial capital.

The success of the Taliban offensive also calls into question whether they would ever rejoin long-stalled peace talks in Qatar aimed at moving Afghanistan toward an inclusive interim administration as the West hoped. Instead, the Taliban could come to power by force — or the country could splinter into factional fighting like it did after the Soviet withdrawal in 1989.

In Doha, US envoy Zalmay Khalilzad has met with diplomats from China, Pakistan and Russia in an effort to as group warn the Taliban they could again be considered international pariahs if they continue their offensive, State Department spokesman Ned Price said. Khalizad also met with Afghan government and Taliban officials, but the fighting goes on without a sign of it abating.

The multiple battle fronts have stretched the government's special operations forces — while regular troops have often fled the battlefield — and the violence has pushed thousands of civilians to seek safety in the capital.

The latest US military intelligence assessment is that Kabul could come under insurgent pressure within 30 days and that if current trends hold, the Taliban could gain full control of the country within a couple of months.

World+Biz

Afghan / Taliban / Police headquarters

Comments

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderation decisions are subjective. Published comments are readers’ own views and The Business Standard does not endorse any of the readers’ comments.

Top Stories

  • Representational image. File photo: TBS
    Govt okays proposed tariff structure for Chattogram Port, rates to rise by up to 440%
  • Hasina and Taposh in an event in 2020. Photo: Collected
    Al Jazeera investigation: Hasina, in call with Taposh, talks using helicopter to shoot, crush protesters in July uprising
  • The Chinese Ambassador Yao Wen and Sayeda Jasmin Sultana Milky, director general of Global Health Emergence  Response Wing of the foreign ministry, received the team in the airport last night (24 July). Photo: Chinese embassy/Facebook
    Chinese medical team arrives in Dhaka to treat Milestone crash victims

MOST VIEWED

  • Representational image/Reuters
    Dollar gets upward push as BB buys $10m more in auction at even higher rate
  •  ABM Khairul Haque. File Photo: Collected
    Former chief justice Khairul Haque detained
  • File photo of Bangladesh Bank. Photo: TBS
    Governor Mansur orders withdrawal of BB dress code after directive draws criticism
  • Representational image. Photo: Collected
    Tariff talks: Bangladesh, US set for crucial virtual meeting on 29 July
  • Mehreen Ahmed speaking to media on 11 July 2025. Photo: Collected
    Court disposes of Dhaka girl's case against parents seeking 'protection from abuse'
  • Hasina and Taposh in an event in 2020. Photo: Collected
    Al Jazeera investigation: Hasina, in call with Taposh, talks using helicopter to shoot, crush protesters in July uprising

Related News

  • Charge sheets filed in 12 cases filed over mass uprising: Police HQ
  • Thousands of Afghans secretly moved to Britain after data leak
  • Most recent incidents involving minorities not communal: Police Headquarters
  • ICC issues arrest warrants for Taliban leaders over persecution of women and girls
  • Russia becomes first country to recognise Taliban government of Afghanistan

Features

Illustration: TBS

The future of medicine: How innovations will catalyse quantum leaps in healthcare

3h | The Big Picture
Photo: Collected

24 July: More than 1400 arrested, 3 missing coordinators found

1d | Panorama
Photo: Mehedi Hasan/TBS

Aggrieved nation left with questions as citizens rally to help at burn institute

2d | Panorama
Photo: Mehedi Hasan/TBS

Mourning turns into outrage as Milestone students seek truth and justice

2d | Panorama

More Videos from TBS

There are many more examples of trials of Chief Justices in the world.

There are many more examples of trials of Chief Justices in the world.

2h | TBS Today
Why is there a massive conflict between Thailand and Cambodia?

Why is there a massive conflict between Thailand and Cambodia?

2h | TBS News Updates
Former Chief Justice ABM Khairul Haque in prison

Former Chief Justice ABM Khairul Haque in prison

2h | TBS Today
The Nvidia Chip Deal Trades Away the United States’ AI Advantage

The Nvidia Chip Deal Trades Away the United States’ AI Advantage

2h | Videos
EMAIL US
contact@tbsnews.net
FOLLOW US
WHATSAPP
+880 1847416158
The Business Standard
  • About Us
  • Contact us
  • Sitemap
  • Advertisement
  • Privacy Policy
  • Comment Policy
Copyright © 2025
The Business Standard All rights reserved
Technical Partner: RSI Lab

Contact Us

The Business Standard

Main Office -4/A, Eskaton Garden, Dhaka- 1000

Phone: +8801847 416158 - 59

Send Opinion articles to - oped.tbs@gmail.com

For advertisement- sales@tbsnews.net