After capturing most of the rural areas in recent months, the Taliban tightened their noose in northern Afghanistan, seized two other provincial capitals, and brought their fighting to the cities.
- The Taliban occupied two more provincial capitals in Afghanistan.
- This has resulted in a total of four provincial capitals being occupied since Friday.
- Residents in one of the cities described it as being shrouded in “complete chaos.”
On Sunday, the Taliban tightened their noose in northern Afghanistan. After capturing most of the rural areas in recent months, they seized two more provincial capitals and brought their fighting to the cities.
Since Friday, the insurgents have seized the four provincial capitals of Afghanistan with lightning strikes, which seem to have overwhelmed the government forces.
Lawmakers and residents of the city confirmed that Kunduz and Sar-e-Pur in the north collided within a few hours, but it was not without fierce fighting.
Pro-Taliban social media accounts claim that the insurgents also almost occupied the provincial capital Talokan.
In Kunduz, a resident described the city as being shrouded in “complete chaos.”
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The Taliban said in a statement: “After a fierce battle, the jihadists captured the capital Kunduz by the grace of God.”
“The jihadists also occupied the city of Sar-e-Pul, the government building and all the facilities there.”
Sar-e-Pul’s women’s rights activist Parwina Azimi told AFP by phone that government officials and the rest of the troops had retreated to a military camp about three kilometers (two miles) from the city.
Mohammad Hussein Mujahidzada, a member of the Provincial Assembly, said that the Taliban “sieged” the compound.
Kunduz is the Taliban’s most significant victory since the offensive launched in May, and the final stage of the retreat of foreign troops.
It has always been a long-term goal of the Taliban. They briefly occupied the city in 2015 and 2016 but never managed to control it for a long time.
The Ministry of National Defense stated that government forces are working to retake key facilities.
it says:
The commando has launched a cleanup operation. Some areas, including the National Radio and Television Building, have been cleared of traces of terrorist Taliban.
Kabul’s ability to control the north may be critical to the long-term survival of the government.
For a long time, northern Afghanistan has been considered an anti-Taliban stronghold. In the 1990s, the strongest resistance to militant rule occurred here.
The area is still home to several militias and a fertile recruitment site for the country’s armed forces.
Ibrahim Turrial, an adviser to the International Crisis Group, said: “The occupation of Kunduz is significant because it will release a large number of Taliban forces, which may then be mobilized to other areas in the north.”
Live footage of the fighting was posted on social media over the weekend, including what appeared to be a large number of prisoners released from prisons in occupied cities.
The Taliban often target prisons, releasing prisoners to replenish their ranks.
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On Friday, the insurgents occupied their first provincial capital Zaranji in the southwestern part of Nimruz, which borders Iran, and the next day they occupied Sheberghan in the northern part of Jazjan Province.
According to reports, fighting also took place in the suburbs of Herat in the west and Lashkar Gah and Kandahar in the south.
The Taliban’s advancement caught the government by surprise, but they were given some respite later on Saturday after U.S. warplanes bombed the Taliban positions in Shebahan.
Major Nicole Ferrara, a spokesperson for the Central Command, told AFP in Washington: “In recent days, the U.S. military has conducted several air strikes to defend our Afghan partners.”
Sheberghan is the stronghold of the notorious Afghan warlord Abdul Rashid Dostum. According to reports, his militia and government forces are retreating eastward to Mazar-i-Sharif in Balkh province.
Dostum led one of the largest militias in the north and gained a terrible reputation during the fighting with the Taliban in the 1990s-while also being accused of killing thousands of insurgent prisoners of war by his troops.
The retreat of his fighters undermined the government’s recent hope that the militias could help an over-stretched army.
Apart from vowing to retake the provincial capital, the government hardly mentioned the fall of the provincial capital.
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Although government forces have largely failed to deliver on their promises to retake dozens of regional and border posts, this is a familiar response to most of the Taliban’s victories in recent weeks.
Hundreds of thousands of Afghans have been displaced by the recent fighting. On Saturday, when they tried to flee Gadez in Paktia province, their bus was hit by a roadside bomb, killing 12 people.
“I lost my mother, father, two brothers, two sister-in-laws and other family members,” Noor Jan said.
The evacuation of foreign troops will be completed by the end of this month before the 20th anniversary of the September 11 attacks. The US-led invasion triggered by 9/11 overthrew the first Taliban regime in 2001.
