WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Taliban are openly active in 70 percent of Afghanistan’s districts, fully controlling 4 percent of the country and demonstrating an open physical presence in another 66 percent, according to a BBC study published on Tuesday.

FILE PHOTO: Afghan security forces take position on a roof of a building the site of a blast and gunfire between Taliban and Afghan forces in PD 6 in Kabul, Afghanistan March 1, 2017. REUTERS/Omar Sobhani/File Photo

The BBC estimate, which it said was based on conversations with more than 1,200 individual sources in all districts of the South Asian country, was significantly higher than the most recent assessment by the NATO-led coalition.

The coalition said on Tuesday that the Taliban contested or controlled only 44 percent of Afghan districts as of October 2017.

Afghanistan has been reeling over the past nine days from a renewed spate of violence that is adding scrutiny to the latest, more aggressive U.S.-backed strategy to bolster Afghan forces battling the Taliban in a 16-year-old war.

A bomb hidden in an ambulance struck the city center and killed more than 100 people, just over a week after an attack on the Hotel Intercontinental, also in Kabul, which left more than 20 people dead, including four U.S. citizens.

The BBC counted 399 districts in Afghanistan, but the NATO-led force counted 407. The reason for the discrepancy was not immediately clear.

The BBC study said the Afghan government controlled 122 districts, or about 30 percent of the country. Still, it noted, that did not mean that they were free from Taliban attacks.

“Kabul and other major cities, for example, suffered major attacks - launched from adjacent areas, or by sleeper cells - during the research period, as well as before and after,” the report said.

Asked about the BBC’s study, the Pentagon did not comment directly, but pointed to the latest figures by the NATO-led coalition asserting that about 56 percent of Afghanistan’s territory was under Afghan government control or influence.

Captain Thomas Gresback, a spokesman for the coalition in Kabul, said the BBC estimate overstated the militants’ “influence impact”.

“This is a criminal network, not a government in waiting,” Gresback said in an emailed statement.

“What really matters is not the number of districts held, but population controlled. RS assesses that around 12 percent of the population is actually under full Taliban control,” he said, referring to the Resolute Support mission.

The study by Britain’s public broadcaster quoted a spokesman for Afghan President Ashraf Ghani playing down the findings.

The BBC study also said Islamic State had a presence in 30 districts, but noted it did not fully control any of them.</s>WASHINGTON - The Taliban are openly active in 70 percent of Afghanistan's districts, fully controlling 4 percent of the country and demonstrating an open physical presence in another 66 percent, according to a BBC study published on Tuesday.



The BBC estimate, which it said was based on conversations with more than 1,200 individual local sources in all districts of the South Asian country, was significantly higher than the most recent assessment by the NATO-led coalition of the Taliban's presence.



The coalition said on Tuesday that the Taliban contested or controlled only 44 percent of Afghan districts as of October 2017.</s>WASHINGTON: The Taliban are openly active in 70 percent of Afghanistan’s districts, fully controlling 4 percent of the country and demonstrating an open physical presence in another 66 percent, according to a BBC study published on Tuesday.

The BBC estimate, which it said was based on conversations with more than 1,200 individual local sources in all districts of the South Asian country, was significantly higher than the most recent assessment by the NATO-led coalition of the Taliban’s presence.

The coalition said on Tuesday that the Taliban contested or controlled only 44 percent of Afghan districts as of October 2017.

Afghanistan has been reeling over the past nine days from a renewed spate of violence that is adding scrutiny to the latest, more aggressive US-backed strategy to bolster Afghan forces battling the Taliban in a 16-year-old war.

A bomb hidden in an ambulance struck the city centre and killed more than 100 people, just over a week after an attack on the Hotel Intercontinental, also in Kabul, which left more than 20 people dead, including four US citizens.

Although the BBC counted 399 districts in Afghanistan, the NATO-led force counted 407 districts. The reason behind the discrepancy was not immediately clear.

The BBC study said the Afghan government controlled 122 districts, or about 30 percent of the country. Still, it noted that did not mean that they were free from Taliban attacks.

“Kabul and other major cities, for example, suffered major attacks - launched from adjacent areas, or by sleeper cells - during the research period, as well as before and after,” the report said.

Asked about the BBC’s study, the Pentagon did not comment directly, but pointed to the latest figures by the NATO-led coalition asserting that about 56 percent of Afghanistan’s territory was under Afghan government control or influence.

The study by Britain’s public broadcaster quoted a spokesman for Afghan President Ashraf Ghani playing down the findings.

The BBC study also said Daesh had a presence in 30 districts, but noted it did not fully control any of them.</s>Taliban militants were active in about 70% of Afghanistan by November 2017, the BBC reported on Wednesday. A study that the news network conducted between August and November 2017 showed that 1.5 crore Afghans, or close to 50% of the population, live in areas either controlled by the Taliban or where the group has a strong presence.

The BBC report said that 4%, or 14 districts, of the country are now fully controlled by the militant group. The study added that the Taliban had an open or strong physical presence in 66%, or 263 other districts in Afghanistan.

The study comes in the wake of several attacks in Kabul over the past few weeks. On January 27, over 100 people were killed when a bomb hidden in an ambulance close to the offices of the European Union and the High Peace Council buildings went off.

Of the areas with an open or active Taliban presence, as many as 15% of the districts face attacks at least twice every week, the report added. A further 20% face violence at least three times a month, and 31% are attacked once in three months.

Only 122 (30%) districts in Afghanistan are now fully under government control. Places in Helmand province like Sangin, Musa Qala and Nad-e Ali have fallen to the Taliban since 2014, when foreign combat troops left Afghanistan.

However, not everyone seems to be unhappy with the change of government. In Sangin, a resident called Mohammad Reza told the BBC that life was better under the Taliban because there was peace. “It only got violent when the government forces arrived,” he said.

While the Islamic State’s presence in the country has also increased, it only has a small stronghold in the eastern province of Nangarhar, the report said.

United States President Donald Trump had on Monday ruled out talks with the Taliban despite the increasing number of attacks. The US military on Tuesday said that it was a “mistake” to put a media gag order on a federal auditor’s report that said 44% of Afghanistan was in control of or contested by militants.</s>The militants of the Taliban radical movement are active on 70 percent of the Afghan territory, fully controlling 4 percent of the nation and demonstrating presence in another 66 percent, a BBC study has found.About 15 million of the Afghan citizens live in the areas either controlled by the radical movement or in the districts that are often targeted by Taliban's attacks, according to the broadcaster's research.The BBC investigation has revealed that the number of districts with Taliban's presence has increased since the mission carried out by the United States and its allies in Afghanistan ended in 2014 and the foreign troops were formally withdrawn from the country.The study has also found out that the Daesh terrorist group has presence in 30 of 399 Afghanistan's districts, mostly in northern and eastern parts of the nation, however, it has no full control of any district.Over the years, Afghanistan has been facing an unstable political and humanitarian situation, which had worsened due to the activities of terrorist groups such as Taliban and Daesh.In August 2017, Trump issued a new strategy concerning Afghanistan, which presupposed increase in US military presence in the country in order to force the Taliban group to negotiate a political settlement. Such move was believed to result in the end of the US longest foreign war.The Taliban group operating in Afghanistan was accused by the US of providing a sanctuary to al-Qaeda and its leader Osama Bin Laden, who were blamed for the 9/11 attacks. The subsequent US-led coalition's invasion in Afghanistan led to the Taliban being driven from power in the country.</s>The Taliban are openly active in 70 percent of Afghanistan’s districts, fully controlling 4 percent of the country, according to a BBC study published on Tuesday. The group is also demonstrating an open physical presence in another 66 percent of the territory, according to the BBC estimate. It was based on conversations with more than 1,200 individual sources in all districts of the country, and is significantly higher than the most recent assessment by the NATO-led coalition. The Pentagon did not comment directly, but pointed to the latest figures by the NATO-led coalition asserting that about 56 percent of Afghanistan’s territory was under Afghan government control or influence, Reuters reports.</s>The Taliban are in full control of 14 districts of the crisis-torn state and have "an active and open physical" presence in a further 263, the results of the study published on Tuesday showed.

About 15 million of the Afghan citizens live in the areas either controlled by the radical movement or in the districts that are often targeted by Taliban's attacks, according to the broadcaster's research.

The BBC investigation has revealed that the number of districts with Taliban's presence has increased since the mission carried out by the United States and its allies in Afghanistan ended in 2014 and the foreign troops were formally withdrawn from the country.

READ MORE: Trump Urges 'Decisive Action' Against Taliban After Deadly Attack in Kabul

The research was conducted on August 23 — November 21, 2017, when the BBC reporters spoke to more than 1,200 individuals in every district of Afghanistan.

READ MORE: No Talking to Taliban: Trump Affirms US Commitment to Afghanistan

Over the years, Afghanistan has been facing an unstable political and humanitarian situation, which had worsened due to the activities of terrorist groups such as Taliban and Daesh.

In August 2017, Trump issued a new strategy concerning Afghanistan, which presupposed increase in US military presence in the country in order to force the Taliban group to negotiate a political settlement. Such move was believed to result in the end of the US longest foreign war. However, on Monday, Trump rejected the idea of negotiations with the Taliban in the wake of deadly terrorist attacks in Kabul, which claimed lives of hundreds of people.

The Taliban group operating in Afghanistan was accused by the US of providing a sanctuary to al-Qaeda and its leader Osama Bin Laden, who were blamed for the 9/11 attacks. The subsequent US-led coalition's invasion in Afghanistan led to the Taliban being driven from power in the country.</s>According to the BBC's information, the Taliban totally controls 14 districts equalling 4 percent of the territory of Afghanistan, and in 263 other districts (63 percent of territory) they display regular activity, conducting at least one terror attack every three months. The country's remaining 122 districts are controlled by the central government in Kabul, but are still regularly attacked by the militants.

However, in an interview with Sputnik, deputy spokesman of the Defense Ministry of Afghanistan Mohammad Radmanesh said that the figures in the BBC report are invented.

"I confirm that there is a threat in some territories [of the country]," he said. "However, the BBC phone interview has no documented foundation. This [information] has been obtained as a result of questioning ignorant or hostile persons, and, therefore, this research is groundless."

"Today we conducted 14 operations in 11 of the country's provinces, which shows that in those 14 districts where security issues and threats exist, the armed forces are doing their best to defeat the terrorist groups."

Radmanesh also called the message that the Taliban controls 15 million people in Afghanistan an overstatement, because the population of the major cities the government controls — Kabul, Nangarhar, Khost, Herat, Kandahar, Balkh, Bamyan, Daikundi, Parwan, Kapisa and Lashkargah — together total roughly 20 million people, with the total population of Afghanistan being roughly 34.5 million. So the math doesn't add up on the BBC's claims.

"These imprecise calculations do not reflect the real status in any way. Obviously, the enemies of the Afghan people have nothing but propaganda and threats," Radmanesh concluded.

Afghanistan Parliament Commission on Defense Secretary Alkhajollah Kaisari also disputed the BBC's data.

"We do not confirm the poll conducted by the BBC. They talked only to Taliban sympathizers, not the whole people."

Regarding the recent attacks and explosions in Kabul, Kaisari says that the Taliban received support from neighboring countries, "especially Pakistan."</s>The Defense Department has told its inspector general overseeing the reconstruction of Afghanistan to hide what used to be public data on how much of the country is controlled by insurgent groups, the watchdog said in a report published Tuesday.

John Sopko, special inspector general for Afghanistan reconstruction (SIGAR), called the policy change "troubling for a number of reasons, not least of which is that this is the first time SIGAR has been specifically instructed not to release information marked 'unclassified' to the American taxpayer."

Since January 2016, SIGAR's quarterly reports have included tallies on how many of Afghanistan's 407 districts are controlled by the NATO-backed government. According to the most recent figures, published Oct. 30, just 231 of those districts (56.8 percent) were controlled or influenced by the Afghan government.

By comparison, SIGAR reported in October 2016 that 258 districts (63.4 percent of Afghanistan) were under government control or influence. The amount of districts controlled or influenced by the Taliban rose to 54 in the October 2017 report from 33 in the October 2016 report.

In the introduction to his latest report, Sopko wrote that "the number of districts controlled or influenced by the Afghan government had been one of the last remaining publicly available indicators for members of Congress ... and for the American public of how the 16-yearlong U.S. effort to secure Afghanistan is faring."

The report was published amid a wave of violence in Afghanistan's capital, Kabul, that has been unleashed by the Taliban and its rival, ISIS. On Monday, ISIS militants attacked soldiers guarding a military academy, killing at least 11 troops and wounding 16 others.

On Saturday, a Taliban attacker drove an ambulance filled with explosives into the heart of the city, killing at least 103 people and wounding as many as 235.

The Taliban also claimed an attack a week earlier in which militants stormed a luxury hotel in Kabul, killing 22 people, including 14 foreigners, and setting off a 13-hour battle with security forces.

The Taliban have been waging an insurgency since they were driven from power by U.S. and Afghan forces in 2001 after the Sept. 11 attacks. They say they are open to direct peace talks with the United States, something Washington has long rejected.

The ISIS affiliate in Afghanistan emerged in 2014, as the U.S. and NATO were winding down their combat mission and around the time that ISIS declared its self-styled caliphate, headquartered in Syria and Iraq. Its followers have clashed with both Afghan forces and the Taliban.

The recent wave of violence in Afghanistan has unfolded after the Trump administration suspended nearly $900 million in counter-terrorism aid to Pakistan earlier this month. The Pentagon had accused Islamabad of not doing enough to reign in the Haqqani network and Afghan Taliban.

Fox News' Lucas Tomlinson and The Associated Press contributed to this report.</s>The Defense Department has told its inspector general overseeing the reconstruction of Afghanistan to hide what used to be public data on how much of the country is controlled by insurgent groups, the watchdog said in a report published Tuesday.

John Sopko, special inspector general for Afghanistan reconstruction (SIGAR), called the policy change "troubling for a number of reasons, not least of which is that this is the first time SIGAR has been specifically instructed not to release information marked 'unclassified' to the American taxpayer."

The Pentagon responded to the report by blaming “human error” for the restrictions.

"In the most recent report, SIGAR indicated that Resolute Support restricted the public release of unclassified district, population and land-area control data that had been provided previously,” Capt. Tom Gresback, a spokesman for U.S. and allied forces in Afghanistan, said in a statement.

“It was NOT the intent of Resolute Support to withhold or classify information which was available in prior reports. A human error in labeling occurred. The classification system, because it incorporates both a NATO and U.S. nomenclature, can be challenging, and a mistake was made. The data is not classified and there was no intent to withhold it unnecessarily.”

Since January 2016, SIGAR's quarterly reports have included tallies on how many of Afghanistan's 407 districts are controlled by the NATO-backed government. According to the most recent figures, published Oct. 30, just 231 of those districts (56.8 percent) were controlled or influenced by the Afghan government.

By comparison, SIGAR reported in October 2016 that 258 districts (63.4 percent of Afghanistan) were under government control or influence. The amount of districts controlled or influenced by the Taliban rose to 54 in the October 2017 report from 33 in the October 2016 report.

In the introduction to his latest report, Sopko wrote that "the number of districts controlled or influenced by the Afghan government had been one of the last remaining publicly available indicators for members of Congress ... and for the American public of how the 16-yearlong U.S. effort to secure Afghanistan is faring."

The report was published amid a wave of violence in Afghanistan's capital, Kabul, that has been unleashed by the Taliban and its rival, ISIS. On Monday, ISIS militants attacked soldiers guarding a military academy, killing at least 11 troops and wounding 16 others.

On Saturday, a Taliban attacker drove an ambulance filled with explosives into the heart of the city, killing at least 103 people and wounding as many as 235.

The Taliban also claimed an attack a week earlier in which militants stormed a luxury hotel in Kabul, killing 22 people, including 14 foreigners, and setting off a 13-hour battle with security forces.

The Taliban have been waging an insurgency since they were driven from power by U.S. and Afghan forces in 2001 after the Sept. 11 attacks. They say they are open to direct peace talks with the United States, something Washington has long rejected.

The ISIS affiliate in Afghanistan emerged in 2014, as the U.S. and NATO were winding down their combat mission and around the time that ISIS declared its self-styled caliphate, headquartered in Syria and Iraq. Its followers have clashed with both Afghan forces and the Taliban.

The recent wave of violence in Afghanistan has unfolded after the Trump administration suspended nearly $900 million in counter-terrorism aid to Pakistan earlier this month. The Pentagon had accused Islamabad of not doing enough to reign in the Haqqani network and Afghan Taliban.

Fox News' Lucas Tomlinson and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
A BBC study finds that, as of October 2017[update], the Taliban presently maintains control of or has some territorial presence in 70% of Afghanistan, with full control of 14 districts (totaling 4% of the country) and demonstrating an open physical militant presence in 263 others (encompassing the remaining 66% of the group's occupied territory).