A young Afghan army general has been using firepower as well as social media to wage a war against the Taliban, especially in its heartland, as the group is rampaging across Afghanistan overrunning cities and torturing civilians. Sami Sadat, the 36-year-old commander of the country's special forces, has been fighting the Taliban and keeping it out in Lashkar Gah, the capital of the southern province of Helmand.
The Afghan government on Wednesday promoted Sadat as the commanding general of the Afghan National Army commandos. He was leading the 215 Maiwand Afghan Army Corps before this. Sadat has been tweeting photos and videos of the army's offensive and the atrocities committed by the Taliban even as hundreds of soldiers have reportedly surrendered across Afghanistan.
Sadat has 12,400 followers on Twitter and they include government officials to journalists. He told AFP in a phone interview from Lashkar Gah that they are going to win the war despite the Taliban's brutal advances.
'Anything but naive'
"I know this is our country, that the Taliban are failing, that they will fail sooner or later," he told AFP. "Any Taliban who comes to Lashkar Gah will die or leave disabled for life," he said but admitted at the same time that they will take time to fully secure the city.
Also read | Taliban march breeds humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan, 60k families displaced
{{/usCountry}}Also read | Taliban march breeds humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan, 60k families displaced
{{/usCountry}}Sadat, who is a graduate of London's prestigious King's College, began his military career at the Afghan interior ministry. He received training in Germany, Britain, Poland and the United States. He also served with Afghanistan's spy agency--the National Directorate of Security.
Also watch | Taliban seize Mi-35 attack helicopter gifted by India from Kunduz: Report
"He is anything but naive," said a security official who asked not to be named. "He has a very strategic vision and a very deep analysis of what is happening," said a general who was Sadat's colleague at the spy agency.
Also read | US Prez Joe Biden says pull-out is on despite Taliban’s march
"He is not someone who gives orders from the rear while hiding in the humvee. He will do anything for his soldiers," AFP quoted a Afghan security personnel as saying.
To safer places
Sadat has been holding back the counteroffensive against the Taliban as he wants every resident to leave Lashkar Gah. Sadat told AFP the men under his command have been going house-to-house to secure neighbourhoods captured by the Taliban in the city. "We still find civilians -- especially the elderly and trapped women -- who we take to safer places," he said.
Taliban fighters have been mounting offensives in and around several cities and US intelligence believes the group could take over the capital, Kabul, within 90 days. The Taliban now controls about two-thirds of Afghanistan and has already captured eight provincial capitals in less than a week and are threatening to take at least three more. Thousands of families have fled even as the US-led international forces set to leave by the end of the month.
The United Nations has said more than 1,000 civilians have been killed in the past month and the International Committee of the Red Cross said that since August 1 some 4,042 wounded people had been treated at 15 health facilities.
The Taliban denied targeting or killing civilians and called for an independent investigation.