...mindless ferocity in a turban...on Wednesday night launched an offensive on the Zinda Jan district of Herat
...a venerable old Persian-speaking city in western Afghanistan, populated mostly by Tadjiks, which is why it's not as blood-soaked as areas controlled by Pashtuns...
in western Afghanistan and managed to burn some parts of the police headquarters after five hours of fierce fighting with Afghan cops.
Local officials in Herat said the Afghan National Security and Defense Forces (ANDSF) fought bravely and repulsed the Taliban attack.
"Lack of coordination between the security forces is a serious problem. There is a need for a unified command and control center to provide morale to the security forces. The Taliban are using these gaps and then launching attacks," said Ghulam Habib Hashemi, a member of Herat’s security committee.
Meanwhile,
...back at the shattered spaceship, Fffflirgoll the Arcturan slithered stealthily toward the control room, where the humans had barricaded themselves...
family members of soldiers stranded in Taliban areas have raised concerns over the soldiers' health conditions.
"My children are crying the whole day, they ask for their father. My husband has been serving in Oba for three months, he was maimed two times," said Maryam, the wife of an Afghan Army Officer in Herat.
"My cousins, my uncle and my nephew are among the soldiers maimed in Oba, they are stuck there, no one is there to reach out to help them," said Bashir Ahmad, a relative of a maimed officer in Oba.
Local officials in Herat pledged that soon they will transfer the maimed troops from Oba.
"We are working to transfer the maimed soldiers from Oba to Herat city and to send additional forces to Oba to control the district," said Abdul Saboor Qane, the governor of Herat.