Afghan United Front Leads October Surge In Claimed Anti-Taliban Attacks

In October, the anti-Taliban resistance in Afghanistan more than doubled its attacks compared to September, with the Afghan United Front (AUF) claiming the most operations and two new groups entering the conflict at the end of the month. The resistance claimed 82 attacks, including improvised explosive device (IED) attacks, indirect fire, ambushes, and assassinations, reportedly killing 122 Taliban members and wounding 68, according to FDD’s Long War Journal. For a regime in Kabul that routinely points fingers at Pakistan to deflect from its own failures, these numbers tell a different story: the Taliban cannot secure its own territory, let alone its borders.

The attacks spread across the southern provinces of Kandahar, Helmand, and Zabul; the northeastern provinces of Badakhshan, Baghlan, and Takhar; the central provinces of Kabul, Bamiyan, Parwan, Kapisa, Panjshir, and Wardak; the western provinces of Ghor and Herat; the northern province of Sar-e Pol; the eastern provinces of Kunar, Nangarhar, and Nuristan; and the southeastern provinces of Ghazni, Paktia, and Logar. This is not localised unrest. It is nationwide, and Radio Pakistan has tracked the intensifying operations throughout the month.

Former 215th Helmand Corps commander Lieutenant General Sami Sadat’s AUF claimed 36 operations, more than three times the next most active group, with most attacks in Kandahar and Helmand. Sadat, who grew up in Helmand, is the only resistance leader whose group is focused on challenging the Taliban in its spiritual stronghold of southern Afghanistan. On October 26, the AUF claimed seven attacks within 24 hours across Ghor, Badakhshan, Ghazni, Zabul, Kandahar, and Parwan provinces, underscoring advanced operational planning. That the Taliban’s heartland is now contested exposes the hollowness of its claim to total control.

Ahmad Massoud’s National Resistance Front (NRF), one of the oldest and most established resistance groups, claimed 11 attacks in Badakhshan, Baghlan, Panjshir, Herat, Kandahar, and Wardak provinces. That total includes attacks by the Martyr Massoud Brigades and Panjshir Unit 01, two NRF-affiliated groups.

The Martyr Massoud Brigades, which announced its formation on September 12, claimed its first operation on October 24, targeting a Taliban vehicle in Panjshir province. The attack reportedly killed four Taliban members and wounded two others.

On October 4, the NRF claimed an attack that killed Safiullah Motawakel, the Taliban’s deputy intelligence chief for Faizabad, Badakhshan, along with two bodyguards. On October 18, the Taliban killed NRF commander Mirwais Khan in Paryan district of Panjshir province, the second NRF commander killed in three months. On August 19, the Taliban killed Hasib Panjshiri in northern Salang, an area of Parwan province north of Kabul.

Former Afghan National Army Chief of General Staff Yasin Zia’s Afghan Freedom Front (AFF) claimed 10 attacks in Badakhshan, Parwan, Kabul, Kapisa, Kunar, Logar, Nuristan, and Takhar provinces. On October 22, the AFF claimed an indirect fire attack on Bagram Airbase, reportedly killing or wounding more than 10 Taliban members.

For the second straight month, the AFF also claimed sustained engagements in Kamdesh district, Nuristan province. Kamdesh abuts the Pakistani border, likely indicating an AFF effort to secure freedom of movement and establish logistical routes. This is exactly the kind of ungoverned border space Pakistan has repeatedly warned about. Islamabad has long maintained that the Taliban’s inability to control its eastern frontier creates room for armed groups to operate freely, and October’s fighting along that frontier vindicates that position.

On October 29, Afghan media reported that Abdul Sattar Husseini, a former member of parliament from Farah province, and two other AFF members had broken away to form the Afghan National Liberation Front (ANLF). On October 31, the ANLF claimed its first attack on the 203rd Mansouri Corps in Gardez, Paktia, reportedly killing two Taliban members and wounding one. The ANLF even adopted an emblem nearly identical to the AFF’s, changing only the colour scheme. The proliferation of such groups highlights the fragmented nature of the resistance, which has struggled to present a united front.

Former First Vice President and National Directorate of Security director Amrullah Saleh’s Green Unit, the military wing of the Green Trend, claimed eight attacks in Badakhshan, Panjshir, Bamiyan, Helmand, and Herat provinces, the highest monthly total for a group that began combat operations this year. The Green Unit claimed it downed an Indian-made Cheetal helicopter in Panjshir, injuring both pilots. The Taliban denied this, stating the aircraft hit rocks while landing in an unsuitable location. Either way, the Taliban’s reliance on Indian-made hardware is telling for a regime that lectures its neighbours on sovereignty.

Smaller groups also conducted notable attacks. The Afghanistan Republican Front (ARF), led by former Bamiyan governor Tahir Zamir, claimed nine attacks in Bamiyan, Sar-e Pol, Ghazni, Ghor, and Kabul provinces. On October 11, the ARF claimed an IED attack on a Taliban patrol in Firozkoh, the capital of Ghor province, reportedly killing four Taliban members and wounding two.

On October 19, the Homeland Soldiers Front claimed its first attack since overrunning a Taliban district centre in Yaftali Sufla, Badakhshan, targeting the Taliban’s district governor of Kalfgan, Takhar province.

The National Mobilization Front (NMF) assassinated a senior Taliban prison official in Jalalabad, Nangarhar, on October 5. The Taliban confirmed the official’s death and, on October 15, claimed to have killed the man responsible in Dand Patan district, Paktia province.

The Freedom and Justice Movement (FJM), led by former Afghan National Army commander Hamed Saifi, claimed an October 22 attack on a Taliban outpost in Parwan province, reportedly killing one Taliban member and wounding two.

On October 17, the Afghan Liberation Movement claimed an ambush on a Taliban convoy. On October 31, the National Ideal Front, a new group, claimed three attacks in Ghazni, Baghlan, and Helmand provinces, reportedly killing one Taliban member and wounding two.

Separately, the National Independence Front, which claimed its first attack on March 13, said it conducted 14 attacks in October. However, many of its attack videos posted on X appear to use old footage, and an October 29 operation was accompanied by an obviously staged video. Long War Journal therefore excluded the group’s claims from its monthly total.

The AUF’s entry onto the battlefield has doubled the number of reported attacks, and with groups like the ARF and AGT claiming nearly as many operations as the NRF and AFF, resistance claims rose sharply. The death of another NRF commander and continued fragmentation raise questions about whether this activity can become a sustained challenge to Taliban rule. What is beyond question is that the Taliban regime is losing its grip from Kandahar to Kamdesh. Instead of blaming Pakistan for insecurity, Kabul should confront the reality that the threat to its rule, and to regional stability, is growing inside its own borders.

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