As the solar year 1400 comes to an end, Ariana News looks back at major security developments that took place in the country over the last 12 months.

Early in the year, fighting in Afghanistan escalated as foreign troops worked towards an end-August withdrawal date following the 2020 deal between the United States and the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA).

IEA seized control of 24 districts in the first quarter of the year and were fighting for control in other districts.

Most of the districts seized by IEA were in the northern parts of the country, including Teshkan, Tagab, Darayem, Keshm, Warduj, Shahr-i-Buzurg, Raghestan, Jurm, Yaftal and Kalafkan.

During the period that the districts fell to the IEA, coalition members including Portugal, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden pulled out all their troops from the country.

IEA then stepped up its attacks to an extent that it stalled intra-Afghan peace talks.

On 11 Asad (August 2), parliament convened an emergency session where then president Ashraf Ghani called on the public to stand up against the IEA.

Fighting escalated however after Ghani’s appeal and just three days later, the IEA took control of the provincial capital Zaranj in the southern province of Nimroz.

In the north, more districts were coming under the control of IEA. Ghani travelled to northern Balkh province twice. There, he met with former Balkh Governor Ata Mohammad Noor and former Vice President Abdul Rashid Dostum to discuss ways to contain the IEA’s advance.

In the week following the seizing of Zaranj, the IEA also took the provincial capitals of Herat, Ghazni, Helmand, Kandahar and Ghor.

The offensive culminated with the capture of capital Kabul on 24 Asad (August 15), and the total collapse of the Ghani government.

While the fighting took a heavy toll on both parties, the number of casualties among civilians was also high.

According to a UN report, 1,659 civilians were killed and 3,523 others were wounded in the first half of 2021.

The report said that 39 percent of civilian deaths were caused by the IEA, while government forces were responsible for 23 percent of the deaths.

Looking at data on military deaths, 405 government forces were killed in the month of Sawr (May), and 703 in Jawza (June).

On the other hand, the defense ministry of the then government had announced that IEA lost 2,146 of its members in Sawr and 1,535 in Jawza, figures that were denied by IEA.

The conflict ended in Afghanistan once the IEA took over the capital, however, security incidents continued to cause civilian casualties.

As many as 200 civilians were killed outside the Kabul airport in an explosion claimed by Daesh during the chaotic foreign troop withdrawal process.