TALIBAN AFGHAN SOLDIERS SHOW OF POWER
afghan afghan army afghan taliban army flag march islamic state taliban taliban insurgents Army,Feature Report,Local News,Mid East,Package,Politics Afghanistan, FAYZABAD
News ID : 87992 Video Version : 1 Script Version : 1
4:18
Headline
Hundreds of Afghan Soldiers, armed Taliban patrol on the streets of the city bordering Tajikistan in a show of power.
Intro
In a show of power, about one hundred Afghan soldiers and Taliban members patroll the streets of Fayzabad, the capital of the northeastern province of Badakhshan that borders Tajikistan.
Story
Holding weapons and Taliban flags, they drove and later marched through the streets alongwith Taliban officials in a show of power.
Deputy governor of Badakhshan province, Maulvi Nisar Ahmad Ahmadi said Afghan army was there to protect country’s borders and maintain security.
“You know better, that every country has the right to have its armed forces—strong army, and Afghanistan needs to have a strong force to protect its borders and respond to every encroachment. There is a need for focus on the armed forces (on their training etc). Every country has the right to defend itself and every country is assured that the army being raised in Afghanistan will never harm anyone and it isn’t supposed to be against any of the neighbors but for protection of the country, protection of the borders and maintaining security—for defending our dignity and protection of the people of Afghanistan,”he said.
Director of information and culture, Moazuddin read out message from the Taliban government.
“Afghanistan Islamic Emirate says its a militia of composed, powerful army in the area and committed that never will use this army against other countries,”he said.
Fayzabad, the capital of province of Badakhshan fell to Taliban on August 11.
The Taliban seized control of Afghanistan on Aug. 15 after the Western-backed government collapsed and President Ashraf Ghani fled the country.
Last month, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told a U.S. Senate panel that the Afghan army's sudden collapse was a miscalculation in America's war.
The show of power and military preparedness comes at a time when Afghanistan is the brink of an economic disaster and humanitarian crisis.
