The Afghan president represents security ministers in the midst of Taliban progress in the Taliban News

President Ashraf Ghani has announced new Defense and Interior Ministers as violence escalates as the Taliban claim more territory.

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has replaced two top ministers in charge of managing the country’s false security as the Taliban continue their campaign to capture new territory in fierce fighting with government forces.

Shaking the wallets of the Ministry of Defense and the Interior has increased violence and peace talks are blocked. The Taliban say they have taken more than 40 districts across rugged countryside in recent weeks.

The presidency announced in a statement on Saturday that General Bismillah Khan Mohammadi, who fought under the command of Taliban commander Ahmad Shah Massoud during the 1990s civil war, has been appointed new defense minister.

He has replaced Asadullah Khalid, who has held the job since 2018, and has repeatedly left the country to treat the wounds he suffered after a suicide bombing in 2012.

Mohammadi previously held portfolios in the Ministry of Defense and Interior and was the head of military personnel after the fall of the Taliban regime in the 2001 US-led invasion.

Ghana also appointed General Abdul Sattar Mirzakwal as interior minister, the presidency said. Mirzakwal has held various regional positions before.

‘Strong and effective plan’

Violent cabinet changes to be approved in parliament have escalated in violence since early May after the US military began formal withdrawal among the last remaining troops.

U.S. President Joe Biden has set September 11 — the 20th anniversary of the U.S. bombing of the invasion of Afghanistan — as the deadline for U.S. soldiers to withdraw.

Since the Pentagon began its final withdrawal on May 1, the Taliban has released waves of attacks aimed at government forces.

The armed group has said it has taken over more than 40 districts since early May, forcing military leaders to strategically withdraw from some rural areas.

On Saturday, local authorities said the Taliban had seized at least six other districts since Friday when pro-government forces forced them to evacuate or flee the districts or districts.

The newly collapsed districts are located in Takhar, Faryab, Jawzjan, Samangan, Farah and Paktia provinces, according to officials.

In an attack, at least 20 members of an elite command unit were shot dead by the Taliban in northern Faryab province on Wednesday, several officials told AFP.

Afghanistan has about 34 provinces and 400 districts. The districts function as secondary administrative units, one level below the provinces.

The Taliban are now in almost every province and are encircling several major cities – a strategy that overcame most of Afghanistan until they were dispatched by armed groups invading U.S.-led forces in the mid-1990s.

On Saturday, the Defense Ministry confirmed that government troops had retreated from various districts, but said they intended to return.

“There is a new, strong and effective plan to reclaim the areas where we have withdrawn our forces,” ministry spokesman Rohullah Ahmadzai said, adding that hundreds of troops have been handed over to the Taliban.