Roundup: Afghan Taliban overruns strategic valley, steps up fighting to gain more ground

Afghan Taliban militants have overrun the strategically important Qarae area in Almar district of Faryab province with Maimana as its capital, army spokesman in the province Mohammad Reza Razai said Tuesday. "More than 1,000 Taliban militants attacked Qarae valley early Tuesday and after suffering huge casualties including 30 dead bodies they captured the area and we retreated," Rezai told Xinhua.

Three pro-government fighters sustained injuries in the firefight which lasted for a while, he admitted.

However, local people said that the fall of Qarae valley with 30,000 populations would facilitate the fall of Almar district if the government fails to take proper action for the eviction of militants from the area.

Meantime, Khairullah Qarai, a pro-government elder in Qarae valley in talks with local media confirmed the fall of Qarae to the Taliban militants, saying the armed insurgents also killed 10 villagers who had fought against militants and injured nine others.

The militants, he said, had also lost 73 fighters including some foreigners in the war for capturing Qarae valley.

Parliamentarian from Faryab province Naqibullah Faeq also confirmed the fall of Qarae area, saying the armed militants had been fighting security forces in Almar, Shirin Tagab, Pashtunkot and Khawja Sabzposh districts to consolidate their positions in the province.

The fall of Qarae came just days after the visit of Interior Minister Noorul Haq Ulumi to Faryab province who instructed security forces stationed there to crash Taliban militants and their backers in the area.

Taliban militants fighting the government to regain power have been fighting in parts of Faryab province over the past couple of months to expand their influence in the relatively peaceful northern region of Afghanistan.

Faryab, according to local observers, is a key for the Taliban outfit to influence the northern provinces, if captured by militants, it would facilitate the hardliner group to grasp more territory in the northern region of the conflict-ridden Afghanistan.

Afghan vice president General Abdul Rashid Dostum, according to local media reports, has expressed concerns over Taliban presence in Faryab province, warning if Taliban advance is not checked in Faryab, they won't stop in other provinces. Endit