Members of the Helmand provincial council on Saturday raised concerns over the number of district governors and other civil servants who have left their posts due to insecurity.

The council members claim these government officials are instead managing their districts from the provincial capital Lashkargah.

They said if this situation continues it will have a negative impact on security as more and more people will turn to the Taliban to resolve their problems.

“Civil servants of those districts that are under Taliban control, are in Lashkargah city and they sign their attendance sheet daily and receive salaries. There is no work and government does not have control over these districts,” Karim Atal, head of the council said.

“Six districts are under Taliban control, but the district governors are on duty and receive salaries. This has created many challenges for the people, they have to go to Taliban to resolve their problems,” said Attaullah Afghan, member of the council.

Helmand local officials meanwhile confirmed these claims by the provincial council and said after some parts of the province fell to the Taliban, a number of district governors and other government officials refused to resume work at their official offices.

“We accept that district governors do not work in the districts that are under Taliban control. Despite this, civil servants address villagers problems from Lashkargah city,” Omar Zawak, spokesman of Helmand governor said.

Reports indicate that Nawa, Khanshin, Dishu, Baghran, Musa Qala and Nowzad are completely out of government control and that Taliban are active in these districts.