After the Taliban released a statement days ago claiming to have captured the Registan district of southern Kandahar, after routing Afghan forces and raising the “white flag of Islam” over the territory, the Afghan government has denied the Taliban claims, stating that they still controlled the area and insisting that they moved the district center not because the Taliban had overrun their forces but because it was difficult for people to reach it.
Pajhwok Afghan reported, “Authorities rejected the assertion as exaggerated.” The news network reported that the Registan district remained under the government’s control, and that Afghan officials insisted that the district center was moved for “administrative reasons.”
The Taliban had released a statement Oct. 2 that said that the organization had routed Afghan forces in Registan, forced them to flee after killing and wounding dozens, and “liberating the district center, unfurling the sublime white flag of Islam over it and bringing the entire district under their complete control.”
and al Qaeda-loyal group Junood al Fida was involved in the fighting, and also claimed on Twitter to have taken the Registan district, citing the “Commander of the faithful,” Mullah Omar, to whom Junood al Fida is pledged subject, as well as the late Osama bin Laden.
“Glad tidings O Ummah–the den of Shaykh Osamah will fall to the lions of the #Islamic_Emirates–by the will of Allah!” The accompanying hashtags are #Kandahar and #Afghanistan,” read one Tweet by the group.
Other Tweets showed photos of the fighting and a base the group claimed to have assaulted.
By James Haleavy
Source: Long War Journal