Taliban fighters attacked an Afghan army base just two days after US forces handed control back over to the nation’s soldiers.

The offensive – which targeted the Afghanistan National Army (ANA) in Helmand province – came less than a week after America began with a complete withdrawal of troops from combat areas in the war-torn nation.

On Friday, the White House began a four-month operation to remove all of America’s 2,500 fighters from Afghanistan, 20 years after the US first deployed troops to the South Asian country. The new deadline for complete withdrawal, September 11, 2021, is later than the May 1 withdrawal deadline agreed in talks with the Taliban last year, under the Trump administration.

US defense bosses began the withdrawal over the weekend, starting with the removal of soldiers from the Antonik camp in Helmand. But just two days after American troops left and handed control of the base back to the ANA, Taliban forces launched an attack on the Antonik station.

Attaullah Afghan, the head of Helmand’s provincial council, said the Taliban launched their assault on Monday from several directions and attacked checkpoints close to Lashkar Gah, reportedly taking over some of them, writes Dailymail.com.

Mulah Jan, a citizen in a suburb of the provincial capital, said: ‘There was a thunderstorm of heavy weapons and blasts in the city and the sound of small arms was like someone was making popcorn. 

‘I took all my family members to the corner of the room, hearing the heavy blasts and bursts of gunfire as if it was happening behind our walls.’ 

The insurgents were pushed back by Afghan security forces, according to local reports, after the national army launched air strikes and deployed elite commando forces. But fighting, however, has continued into Tuesday and hundreds of families had been displaced, according to Attaullah Afghan.

Speaking of the offensive, the Afghan defense ministry said around 100 Taliban fighters had been killed in Helmand but did not provide details on casualties among Afghan security forces, Dailymail.com reported.

The defense ministry added that Afghan security forces have also had to respond to attacks from the Taliban in at least six other provinces over the last 24 hours, including in southeastern Ghazni and southern Kandahar.

The surge in violence in Afghanistan has happened after last month, president Joe Biden announced his plan to withdraw all US troops from the country.

The Taliban rejected Biden’s announcement that troops would stay on past the previously agreed May 1 withdrawal date.

Since the US withdrawal began, a car bomb in Logar province killed almost 30 people on Friday, while at least seven Afghan military personnel were killed when the Taliban detonated explosives in southwestern Farah province on Monday.

Taliban spokesman, Zabiullah Mujahid, has previously said that those responsible for delaying the removal of US troops from Afghanistan would be ‘held liable’. 

On Twitter, Mujahid said: ‘If the [Doha] agreement is breached and foreign forces fail to exit our country on the specified date, problems will certainly be compounded and those whom failed to comply with the agreement will be held liable’. 

After withdrawal is complete on the anniversary of 9/11, the US hopes to rely on Afghan military and police forces to keep peace in the country. Over the last two decades the US has developed Afghan’s military might with billions of dollars worth of funding.

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