Police officers stand guard on the roof of their outpost near Mehtar Lam in Afghanistan's Laghman Province on May 19, 2021. (Jim Huylebroek/The New York Times)
New York Times: A Wave of Afghan Surrenders to the Taliban Picks Up Speed
MEHTAR LAM, Afghanistan — Ammunition was depleted inside the bedraggled outposts in Laghman province. Food was scarce. Some police officers hadn’t been paid in five months.
Then, just as U.S. troops began leaving the country in early May, Taliban fighters besieged seven rural Afghan military outposts across the wheat fields and onion patches of the province, in eastern Afghanistan.
The insurgents enlisted village elders to visit the outposts bearing a message: Surrender or die.
By mid-month, security forces had surrendered all seven outposts after extended negotiations, according to village elders.
At least 120 soldiers and police were given safe passage to the government-held provincial center in return for handing over weapons and equipment.
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WNU Editor: The momentum appears to be on the Taliban's side .... Pakistan: Taliban donations, recruitment on the rise (DW). More here .... With US leaving, Taliban tales of ‘victory’ and jihad lure youth (Christian Science Monitor).