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Taliban responsible for 'outrageous and atrocious acts of violence': US State Department

Reuters
WashingtonUpdated: Aug 03, 2021, 08:25 PM IST
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Ned Price, Spokesman, US Department of State (file photo). Photograph:(AFP)

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Taliban fighters pushed deeper into the southern Afghan provincial capital of Lashkargah on Monday and closed in on government buildings, a senior official said, as the insurgents pressed a rapid advance

The US State Department spokesman Ned Price Monday on August 2 said that the Taliban is responsible for 'outrageous and atrocious acts of violence.'

Taliban fighters pushed deeper into the southern Afghan provincial capital of Lashkargah on Monday and closed in on government buildings, a senior official said, as the insurgents pressed a rapid advance.

Heavy fighting was raging close to the National Directorate of Security, the prison and the police headquarters in the main city in Helmand province, the government official said, asking not to be named.

Taliban fighters have moved in on three provincial capitals in the last few days and seized territory nationwide since Washington said it planned a complete withdrawal of troops by September.

Most of their advances have focused on rural areas and they have yet to take full control of a major city.

Price engaged in a testy exchange about the situation in Afghanistan with a reporter at the State Department.