At least 10 Taliban fighters were killed and six others wounded in clashes with the Afghanistan Liberation Front in Badakhshan’s Zibak district, the front claimed, saying the Taliban were forced to remove their casualties from the battlefield and conceal their identities.
The latest fighting reportedly began on Tuesday afternoon, August 25, when Taliban reinforcements deployed to the Zibak front came into confrontation with fighters of the Afghanistan Liberation Front. According to the front, the clashes continued until around 10 p.m.
The group said Taliban forces launched artillery attacks along several axes in an attempt to break its defensive positions. The attacks, however, reportedly failed to achieve their objective and were met with resistance from the front’s fighters.
The Afghanistan Liberation Front claimed that at least 10 Taliban fighters were killed and six wounded during the fighting.
It further alleged that the Taliban removed the bodies of those killed and the wounded from the battlefield and transported them to undisclosed locations.
Foreign terrorists among Taliban casualties, front claims
The most serious allegation concerns the identity of some of the reported casualties.
The Afghanistan Liberation Front claimed that foreign terrorists were among the Taliban ranks involved in the fighting and accused the Taliban of deliberately concealing their identities.
The front said the Taliban, allegedly unwilling to disclose the presence of foreign terrorists on the Zibak front, moved even their dead and wounded to unknown locations after the clashes.
If confirmed, the claim would raise further questions about the composition of Taliban forces operating in Badakhshan, particularly amid persistent concerns over the presence of foreign terrorist groups and fighters in Afghanistan.
For an organisation that has repeatedly presented itself as the uncontested authority over Afghanistan, the alleged need to quietly remove casualties and conceal their identities paints a rather different picture. The battlefield may be one place where the Taliban’s carefully managed narrative becomes considerably harder to maintain.
The Afghanistan Liberation Front said its forces strengthened their positions after the clashes ended.
The Taliban have not publicly commented on the claims. The reported casualty figures, the presence of foreign terrorists among the Taliban ranks and other details of the fighting could not be independently verified.
