For five years, the Taliban administration has projected absolute control and nationwide stability. However, growing armed resistance across the north, northeast, and south presents a starkly different reality.
Surge in armed resistance across Afghanistan challenges Taliban control
ISLAMABAD, Aug 21 (APP): Resistance activity against the Taliban regime has intensified sharply during the past week, exposing growing pressure on its security apparatus across multiple provinces of Afghanistan.
The National Resistance Front (NRF), Afghanistan Freedom Front (AFF), and Afghanistan Liberation Front (AUF) carried out targeted attacks and direct clashes in Baghlan, Kunduz, Badakhshan, Helmand, and Kandahar, challenging Taliban positions, security installations, and military centers, according to the media reports.
On August 16, NRF targeted Taliban forces in Firing district, Baghlan, killing one and wounding two personnel.
On August 15, NRF struck the Taliban’s Seventh Police Zone in Kunduz, killing three personnel and destroying a military vehicle.
Meanwhile, AFF launched attacks on Taliban positions in Zebak, Badakhshan, on August 16, killing six and wounding eight.
The group reported that Taliban forces were forced to withdraw from several locations, with some positions and trenches coming under resistance control.
On August 20, AFF again attacked Taliban positions in Zebak, triggering a three and a half hour clash that killed six Taliban personnel and wounded at least ten, while repelling attempts by Taliban forces to recapture the positions.
The pressure extended to provincial and strategic centers as on August 19, AFF fired rockets at the Taliban governor’s office and a security checkpoint in Faizabad, followed by around 30 minutes of heavy fighting that left four Taliban personnel dead and five wounded.
In southern Afghanistan, AUF conducted operations in Lashkargah on August 18, killing four Taliban personnel and destroying a Ranger vehicle.
On August 19, AUF attacked the entrance of the Taliban 205 Corps military center in Kandahar, killing five, wounding three, and destroying another military vehicle.
Across these coordinated operations, resistance groups recorded at least 29 Taliban personnel killed, 28 wounded, and three military vehicles destroyed.
The geographic spread and combination of rocket attacks, targeted operations, and prolonged ground clashes highlight mounting operational pressure on the regime.
For five years, the Taliban administration has projected absolute control and nationwide stability. However, growing armed resistance across the north, northeast, and south presents a starkly different reality.
Increasing battlefield setbacks, escalating attacks, and local opposition indicate that the Taliban’s grip on the country remains far less secure than its official rhetoric suggests.
Widespread public frustration with coercive, exclusionary, and unaccountable governance continues to provide fertile ground for resistance, turning Afghanistan’s rising internal instability into an increasingly severe challenge for the regime.
