Leave Afghanistan now, US tells citizens as Taliban captures city
THE United States yesterday joined Britain in telling its citizens to leave Afghanistan immediately after the Taliban captured a second provincial capital in less than 24 hours.
Pro-Taliban sources claimed the hardline Islamist group had captured government offices in the northern city of Sheberghan and freed all detainees in the city’s prison, in a major blow to Afghan government forces.
Video posted on social media appeared to show hundreds of people leaving the jail.
Government officials confirmed the city had fallen, although there were reports of resistance continuing in some parts of the town. “The (government) forces and officials have retreated to the airport,” said Qader Malia, the deputy governor of Jowzjan province.
Sheberghan, the capital of the northern province of Jowzjan, is the stronghold of Abdul Rashid Dostum, a former vice-president of Afghanistan and warlord whose followers formed a key element in the US-led alliance that toppled the Taliban in 2001.
Forces loyal to him were understood to have been leading the resistance to Taliban attacks during several days of fighting for control of the city.
Aides to Mr Dostum said he was meeting with Ashraf Ghani, the president of Afghanistan, to request the government fly in reinforcements. “We have demanded the government deploys at least 500 commandos so we could work to retake the city,” said Ehsan Niro, his party’s spokesman. The fall of Sheberghan came just hours after police confirmed militants had taken over Zaranj, the capital of the southwestern province of Nimroz. Its deputy governor said the city on the Iranian border fell “without a fight”.
Local police blamed a lack of reinforcements from the government in Kabul. Zaranj and Sheberghan are the first provincial capitals the Taliban has controlled since 2001.
The Taliban has made significant progress since it launched a nationwide offensive after Nato forces began withdrawing from the country after more than 20 years earlier this summer.
American forces are continuing to provide some air support to government forces, but it is unclear how long that will continue, or whether it will be sufficient to reverse recent Taliban gains. On Friday. a Taliban ambush in Kabul killed Dawa Khan Menapal, director of Afghanistan’s government information media centre. On the same day, Afghan government forces said they had recaptured parts of the city of Herat in heavy fighting.
The US embassy in Kabul yesterday urged all American citizens to leave the country as quickly as possible.
“Given the security conditions and reduced staffing, the embassy’s ability to assist US citizens in Afghanistan is extremely limited even within Kabul,” it said in a statement.
“The embassy reiterates that US citizens should leave Afghanistan as soon as possible using available commercial transportation and not plan to rely on US government flights,” it said.