[AlAhram] The Afghan air force carried out more Arclight airstrike
 ...KABOOM! ...
s against Taliban
...the Pashtun equivalent of men...
positions in southern Afghanistan on Thursday, as the holy warrior force made additional gains in the country's north.
A defense ministry statement said air strikes were carried out across the country, including in the southern Helmand
...an Afghan province populated mostly by Pashtuns, adjacent to Injun country in Pak Balochistan...
province, where the historic provincial capital of Lashkar Gah is being fiercely contested. The Taliban control of nine of the city's 10 police districts.
Residents in Lashkar Gah reported heavy bombing near the government radio and television station, which is under Taliban control.
Several wedding halls and a guesthouse of the provincial governor's are all located near the radio and television station.
In northern Afghanistan, the Taliban took control of most of the historic provincial capital of Sar-e-Pul
...a city and eponymous province in northern Afghanistan, population about 500,000. Demographically it is majority Tadjik and Uzbek. There are small Pashtun, Arab, and Hazara communities, of which the Hazaras mostly don't bother anyone...
, the head of its council, Mohammad Noor Rahmani said. In recent months, the group has gained control of dozens of districts across several provinces in the north.
The Taliban onslaught seems to have intensified with the start of the final withdrawal of US and NATO
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It's headquartered in Belgium. That sez it all....
troops in late April. As attacks intensify, Afghan cops and government troops have retaliated with increasing air strikes, aided by the United States.
This has raised growing concerns about civilian casualties across the country.
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