Afghan Forces Retake Taliban-Controlled District

Afghanistan’s Defense Ministry says government forces have gained control of a district in the country’s north from the Taliban.

In a statement, the ministry said the Dash-e Archi district of Kunduz Province, along the border with Tajikistan, was retaken on October 12.

Afghan special forces units stormed the center of the district and “destroyed enemy strongholds” and “inflicted heavy casualties on the enemy,” the statement said.

The statement added that U.S troops supported Afghan forces.

Dasht-e Archi has been largely under the control of the Taliban since 2015.

The Taliban has maintained a strong presence in Kunduz, a strategically and economically important northern province.

The militants took control of the provincial capital, Kunduz, for two weeks in 2015.

The city, the country’s fifth largest, has come under attack several times since then.

The Defense Ministry said government forces had retaken 12 Taliban-controlled districts in the provinces of Ghazni, Badakhshan, Kunduz, Takhar, and Faryab in the past six months.

The Taliban contests or controls nearly half of the country.