Afghan govt executes three-phase plan to defeat Taliban

Kabul [Afghanistan], August 12 : Afghanistan government has executed a three-phase plan to defeat the Taliban in the country as the fighting intensified in recent days and the terror group captured nine provincial capital in Afghanistan.
Afghanistan's Interior Minister General Abdul Sattar Mirzakwal, who took charge of the country's 1,30,000-strong police force five weeks ago, on Tuesday said, "We are working in three phases. The first is to stop the defeats (of the government forces), the second is to re-gather our forces to create security rings around the cities. The third is to begin offensive operations. At the moment, we're moving into the second phase," Al Jazeera reported.
The minister also said that the government is giving support to local volunteer militias known as uprising movements to tackle the Taliban's offensive in many regions.
As the terror group captured nine provincial capital of the country in recent days, the Afghan government is now focusing to secure key infrastructures as main highways, large cities, and border crossings in an attempt to stop the Taliban from capturing other cities.
"Uprising forces have announced their full support to the president and government. They will fight the Taliban along with the government forces. There are concerns from the international community about these uprising forces at the moment but all their members will eventually merge into the Afghan national security forces," Al-Jazeera quoted Mirzakwal as saying.
On Wednesday, President Ashraf Ghani appointed a new chief of army staff in an attempt to give a robust response to the terror group on the ground.
Haibatullah Alizai replaced Wali Mohammad Ahmadzai, as the new chief of army staff. Alizai previously worked as commander of the Afghan National Army Commando.