Additional Afghan troops deployed to Farah as Taliban step up attacks

FARAH -- Afghanistan is deploying more troops to Farah Province, where a multi-billion-dollar pipeline is planned, after the Taliban launched multiple attacks against security forces, officials said Wednesday (March 14).

The latest assault in Farah, which borders Iran, took place in the early hours of Wednesday when Taliban militants stormed a check-point manned by police and intelligence officers on the outskirts of the provincial capital of the same name, killing seven security personnel.

"When commando forces were deployed, [the militants] retreated," Jamila Amini, a member of the Farah Provincial Council, told AFP.

Four members of the National Directorate of Security and three police were killed, she said.

"We have sent more troops and commando forces to Farah to contain the situation," Defence Ministry spokesman Dawlat Waziri told AFP, adding that army chief of staff Lt. Gen. Mohammad Sharif Yaftali had also visited the province.

"The situation will soon come under control," he said.

A string of attacks

Taliban insurgents March 12 briefly took control of the administrative building of Anar Dara District, killing eight police, before troops beat them back, officials said.

That came after an attack on soldiers in Bala Buluk District over the weekend that resulted in multiple casualties.

A February 24 raid on an army base in the same district killed at least 18 soldiers, officials said, in one of the deadliest attacks on security forces in recent months.

Earlier in February, a group of Taliban militants trained and funded by Iran surrendered to local authorities in Herat Province before carrying out their mission to attack the inauguration ceremony for the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) natural gas pipeline.

A section of the multi-billion-dollar TAPI pipeline will traverse through Farah.

Despite security concerns, the Taliban claim to be co-operating with the project.