Taliban controls 2/3rd of Af as 3 more provincial capitals fall
Afghan President Ghani rushes to Balkh seeking help to push back ultras
Kabul, Aug. 11: The Taliban seized three more provincial capitals in Afghanistan and a local army headquarters in a blitz across the country’s northeast, officials said on Wednesday, with the insurgents now controlling some twothirds of the nation as the US and Nato finalise their withdrawal after its decades-long war there.
The fall of the capitals of Badakhshan and Baghlan provinces to the northeast and Farah province to the west put increasing pressure on the country's central government to stem the tide of the advance, even as its lost a major base in Kunduz.
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani rushed to Balkh province, already surrounded by Taliban-held territory, to seek help pushing back the insurgents from warlords linked to allegations of atrocities and corruption. While Kabul itself has not been directly threatened in the advance, its stunning speed raises questions of how long the Afghan government can maintain control of its countryside.
The multiple fronts of the battle have stretched the government's special operations
forces — while regular troops have often fled the battlefield — and the violence has pushed thousands of civilians to seek safety in the capital.
The US military, which plans to complete its withdrawal by the end of the month, has conducted some airstrikes but largely has avoided involving itself in the ground campaign. The Afghan government and military did not respond to repeated requests for comment about the losses. Humayoon Shahidzada, a lawmaker from the western
province of Farah, confirmed that his province’s capital of the same name fell. Neighboring Nimroz province was overrun in recent days after a weeklong campaign by the Taliban.
In Farah, Taliban fighters dragged the shoeless, bloody corpse of one Afghan security force member through the street, shouting: “God is great!” Taliban fighters carrying M-16 rifles and driving Humvees and Ford pickup trucks donated by the Americans rolled through the streets of the capital. —