The Taliban claimed in a Twitter post that it had seized a large number of armored vehicles, vehicles, weapons and military equipment
News Desk
KABUL: At least four provincial capitals have reportedly been captured by the Taliban during the past 72 hours as the Taliban intensify their offensive that was launched in May as foreign forces began the final stages of their withdrawal.
The northern Afghan city of Sar-e-Pul has reportedly fallen to the Taliban, just hours after the Taliban claimed to have captured another provincial capital, Kunduz. “The Taliban have surrounded an army battalion on the outskirts of the city. All other parts of the city are under Taliban control,” Mohammad Hussein Mujahidzada, a member of the Sar-e-Pul provincial council said on Sunday.
On Friday the Taliban seized their first provincial capital, Zaranj in southwestern Nimroz, and followed it up a day later by taking Sheberghan in Jawzjan the following day. Fighting was also reported on the outskirts of Herat, in the west, and Lashkar Gah and Kandahar in the south.
Afghan government forces have largely abandoned the countryside to the militants, but are now scrambling to defend a string of cities across the country. Of all the provincial capitals that the Taliban have captured since Friday, Kunduz – in the far north – is the most significant to fall.
It has been a perennial target for the Taliban, who briefly overran the city in 2015 and again in 2016 but never managed to hold it for long.The ministry of defence said government forces were fighting to retake key installations. “The commando forces have launched a clearing operation. Some areas, including the national radio and TV buildings, have been cleared of the terrorist Taliban,” it said in a statement. Kabul’s inability to hold the north may prove crucial to the government’s long-term survival.
The Taliban claimed in a Twitter post that it had seized a large number of armored vehicles, vehicles, weapons and military equipment. The ministry of defense said government forces were fighting to retake these key sites.
Taliban forces are fighting in Lashkar Gah, the capital of Afghanistan’s southern Helmand province.
Airstrikes damaged a health clinic and a high school in the city, a provincial council member said on Sunday.
Pro-Taliban sources said the Taliban have taken complete control of the city of Taloqan in northeastern Takhar Province that borders Tajikistan.
Fighting was also reported on the outskirts of Herat, in the west, and Kandahar in the south.
