TALIBAN COMPLETE NORTHEAST AFGHAN BLITZ AS MORE CITIES FALL
Ashraf Ghani focuses on protecting the city of Mazar-i-Sharif, but US intel fears capital Kabul itself could fall in three months’ time
KABUL: The Taliban seized three more provincial capitals in Afghanistan and a local army headquarters completing their blitz across the country’s northeast and pressing their offensive elsewhere, officials said Wednesday. The insurgents now control some two-thirds of the nation as the US and NATO finalise their withdrawal after a decades-long war there.
The Taliban could isolate capital Kabul in 30 days and potentially take it over in 90 days, a US defense official said, citing a US intelligence assessment.
An Afghan official and local media reports say President Ashraf Ghani has replaced the army chief of staff.
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani flew to the besieged northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif on Wednesday to rally his beleaguered forces, with Taliban fighters having now taken more than a quarter of the country’s provincial capitals in less than a week.
While Ghani is focusing on motivating his troops to fight back against the insurgents, US intelligence insiders said they believe Taliban could isolate Afghanistan’s capital Kabul in 30 days and potentially take it over in 90 days, according to a US defence official.
The official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said the assessment was a result of the rapid gains the Taliban had been making around the country.
The Afghan president’s visit was somewhat overshadowed by the mass surrender of hundreds of Afghan soldiers in nearby Kunduz, along with the overnight capture of another provincial capital - the ninth city to be overrun since Friday.
One army officer who asked not to be identified said they had endured withering mortar fire at Kunduz airport, and were left with no choice but to surrender.
“There was no way to fight back,” he said. “My unit, with 20 soldiers, three humvees and four pick-up trucks surrendered. We are now waiting to get our pardon letter. There is a big queue.”
In Mazar, Ghani held talks with local strongman Atta Mohammad Noor and warlord Abdul Rashid Dostum about the defence of the city, as Taliban fighters inched closer to its outskirts. Dostum stands accused of massacring hundreds, if not thousands, of Taliban prisoners of war during the US-backed operations in 2001 that toppled the hardline Islamists’ rule over the country.
The loss of Mazar would be a catastrophic blow to the Kabul government and represent the complete collapse of its control over the north - long a bastion of anti-Taliban militias.
Further to the east of Mazar, in Badakhshan province’s capital Faizabad, a local lawmaker told AFP that security forces had retreated after days of heavy clashes. “The Taliban have captured the city now,” said Zabihullah Attiq, confirming the latest city to fall. Kunduz remains the Taliban’s largest prize to date, with the mass surrender at the airport making a potential counter-attack to retake the provincial capital highly unlikely.