Police headquarters falls to Taliban in southern Afghanistan
Kabul, Aug 12 (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 U.S. and NATO withdraw at the end of the month.
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 targeted 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 U.S. Air Force is believed to be carrying out some series of strikes to support Afghan forces. Aviation tracking data suggested U.S. 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 U.S. bombing campaign has caused. The U.S. 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.
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 U.S. 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.
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No unannounced load shedding in Kerala, outages due to overload, says Minister
Palakkad (PTI): Kerala Electricity Minister K Krishnankutty on Saturday said there was no unannounced load shedding in the state, attributing recent power interruptions to temporary overload caused by high consumption.
Clarifying concerns raised from various parts of the state, the minister said the disruptions are not deliberate but occur when demand peaks, particularly between 10 pm and 11 pm.
"It is not being done intentionally. Power consumption has risen sharply, and when there is excessive and indiscriminate usage, the system experiences overload, leading to natural supply interruptions," he told reporters here.
His remarks come amid complaints that several areas have been witnessing frequent power cuts, often lasting around 15 minutes and occurring multiple times during the night.
Krishnankutty said the state's power demand has crossed 6,195 MW, putting pressure on the supply system. He added that around 70 per cent of Kerala's electricity is procured from outside, and existing power banking arrangements have been exhausted.
"We have approached the Regulatory Commission seeking permission to purchase more power. However, this will come at a higher cost," he said.
The minister said the government is trying to avoid increasing electricity tariffs and urged consumers to exercise restraint in usage to help manage the situation.
Responding to opposition criticism over the ruling LDF's earlier claims of a decade without power cuts, he said the current situation is not unique to Kerala.
A power crisis is emerging across the country, he said, and sarcastically asked the Opposition to take note of the role of natural factors in this.
Krishnankutty expressed confidence that the situation would improve within two days, while cautioning that long-term energy security would depend on enhancing in-state power generation.
He also warned that future generations could face serious challenges if adequate electricity production capacity is not developed within Kerala.
