Afghan forces have continued to lose ground to insurgents throughout the country since taking over security responsibilities from NATO at the end of 2014, a new report by a US authority reveals.
As of mid-November, the government controlled or influenced 57.2 per cent Afghanistan's 407 districts, a 6.2 per cent decrease from August and a 15 per cent decrease since November 2015, the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) said in the report.
At least 9.2 million people, almost one-third of the Afghan population, "live in areas that are contested."
About 2.5 million people live under the control or influence of the insurgency, down from 2.9 million over the past three months.
It remained unclear why the population directly controlled by the Taliban shrunk. One factor could be the much larger than anticipated internal displacement due to conflict.
UN statistics showed that close to 640,000 Afghans had to flee their homes in 2016.
Afghan government and security forces need continued support and cannot survive without donor assistance, the report said. The number of Afghan security forces decreased while casualty figures among the troops increased.
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