The security situation is concerning in the western province of Ghor as some districts are facing heavy clashes between government forces and the Taliban in recent weeks, residents and some members of Ghor Provincial Council said on Tuesday. 

Some districts, the residents said, will fall to militants if the government did not pay the required attention to them.

“No assistance has been made for the public uprising forces in Ghor. Casualties [among the public uprising forces] are increasing and the Herat-Ghor Highway is closed to traffic due to ongoing clashes,” member of Ghor Provincial Council Hamidullah Mutahid said.   

Ghor residents said the public uprising forces are the only forces who are fighting the Taliban in the province and that they are not receiving help from the government. 

“The public uprising forces and the security forces are suffering causalities every day. Ghor’s districts will fall to militants if the situation prevails,” said Tahir Majidi, a resident of the province. 

“At least 300 Commando forces have been stationed at a base in Ghor but they are not taking any action to fight the enemy,” an activist in Ghor, Ahmad Shahrani, claimed.  

The governor of Ghor, Ghulam Nasir Khaze, said security forces are prepared to launch military operations against the Taliban and recapture some areas which have fallen to the militants.

“People have always cooperated [with security forces]. The National Defense and Security Forces are fully ready to launch air and ground operations in any part of Ghor,” the governor reiterated. 

Reports indicate that a large number of Ghor residents have been displaced to Feroz Koh, the center of the province, following clashes between security forces and the Taliban in their areas.

This comes as security officials said last week that three districts in Herat, two districts in Badghis, six districts in Ghor and the outskirts of the city of Farah have witnessed heavy clashes between security forces and the Taliban in recent weeks.