By Kyle Orton (@KyleWOrton) on 14 August 2018

The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, the official name for the Taliban, released a statement a few hours ago on the de facto fall of Ghazni province to its forces. They claimed it was “successful militarily, politically, and socially”, showing the coherence of the Taliban forces an the “disunity, weakness, anxiety, and lack of any local support of the enemy”. This strays into hyperbole, but it is difficult to argue there is no factual basis to it. The statement is reproduced below.

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What Did the Conquest of Ghazni Prove?

On Thursday night [9 August], the mujahideen of Islamic Emirate mounted an offensive on the capital city of Ghazni province, swiftly managing to break the enemy defensive belt and entering the city from multiple directions. The next two days saw the mujahideen conducting clearing operations inside the city resulting in the takeover of administrative districts, Bala Hisar Fort, old airbase, and many other government buildings, limiting the areas under enemy control and besieging them in the governor compound, police headquarters, and intelligence headquarters buildings.

Ghazni is one of the most historic cities of Afghanistan and was the capital of the Ghaznavid Sultanate. This provincial capital located in central part of the country is the most strategically important city because it lies on the main Kabul-Kandahar highway, connecting Kabul with the southern regions. The takeover of Ghazni has proven that alongside liberating rural areas, townships and district centers, the Taliban also possess the capability of bringing large cities and provincial capitals under their control.

The capital of Ghazni province was taken over by the mujahideen of Islamic Emirate due to effective military planning, precise calculations, sincere coordination, and a decisive assault. The conquest of this city signifies the failure of yet the latest American strategy of focusing on protecting major cities by relocating troops from rural outlying bases across Afghanistan to defensive positions around provincial capitals. The experience of Ghazni has proven that no defensive belts of cities can withstand the offensive prowess of the mujahideen.

The military conquest notwithstanding, the carefully executed clearing operations, small-scale civilian casualties, confidence of locals, and the fact that mujahideen meet, assure, and solve problems of citizens, while at the same time offer amnesty to soldiers instead of killing them, resulting in hundreds surrendering and saving their lives, showcases the Islamic character of the mujahideen and proves that the protection of life, wealth and honor of the Muslim nation [umma] is the one of the lofty goals of the Islamic Emirate.

Such conduct by the mujahideen also disproves enemy propaganda over the past seventeen years claiming that the mujahideen are a mere terrorist outfit. After years the dwellers of Ghazni city experienced first-hand that the mujahideen of Islamic Emirate are in fact their brothers and care about their lives, wealth and honor even during the chaotic conditions of war.

To summarize, the conquest of Ghazni proved that the Islamic Emirate is successful militarily, politically, and socially. And it displayed coordination, obedience, unity, high morale, discipline and commitment to Islamic rules among mujahideen while blatantly exposing the disunity, weakness, anxiety, and lack of any local support of the enemy.

We hope and pray to Allah Almighty that He makes the conquest of Ghazni the beginning of complete independence of our country and establishment of a sovereign Islamic government in Afghanistan.