Taliban capture three capitals in one day, biggest blow to Afghan government

It is The most important advance of the Taliban military offensive launched last May, when foreign forces in Afghanistan began to withdraw from the country.

“After heavy fighting, the mujahedin, by the grace of God, today took the capital of Kunduz province”, located 300 km north of the capital Kabul and 50 km from the border with Tajikistan, the Taliban said in a statement.

In Sar-e-Pul, “the Taliban have surrounded an army battalion on the outskirts of the city” and “all other parts of the city are under Taliban control,” said Mohamad Hussein Mujahidzada, a member of the council of the province of the same name. .

Later, the insurgents seize Taloqan, in the province of Tajar.

A security source claimed that they withdrew from the city “after the government did not send aid”.

And a resident of the neighborhood, Zabihullah Hamidi, told AFP by phone that he saw the security forces leaving the scene in a convoy of vehicles. “The Taliban are everywhere.

During the last three months, taking advantage of the withdrawal of foreign troops, the Taliban controlled huge rural areas, and are now concentrating their offensive in the big cities.

The insurgents have already seized the city of Sibargan (north-west), capital of the province of Jawzjan, a day after taking control of Zaranj (southwest), capital of the province of Nimroz, near the border with Iran.

“It’s total chaos,” Abdul Aziz, a resident of central Kunduz, told AFP by telephone.

At the end of June, the Taliban conquered the neighborhoods around Kunduz and the important border post of Shir Khan Bandar, which borders Tajikistan, the nerve center of economic relations with Central Asia.

The Defense Ministry said government troops were trying to take over key areas of Kunduz.

“The fall of Kunduz is really important, because it will free a large number of Taliban fighters, who can be mobilized to other places in the north,” Ibraheem Thurial Bahis, consultant for the International Crisis Group (ICG ).

The former American ambassador in Kabul, Ryan Crocker, he predicted a protracted civil war more likely than a quick takeover by the Taliban.

“They are doing what they are doing in part to create a climate of fear and panic,” he told ABC.

Images were posted on social media over the weekend of what appeared to be Taliban prisoners released in towns the insurgents had just taken.

Fear in the streets

Many Afghans fear the specter of a return to power of the Taliban What ruled Afghanistan between 1996 and 2001 by imposing a harsh Islamic regime, before being ousted by an international coalition led by the United States.

Foreign troops have been in Afghanistan for nearly two decades, following the Washington-led invasion following the September 11, 2001 attacks.

The agreement signed in February 2020 in Doha by the Taliban with the United States, which provided for the withdrawal of all foreign soldiers from Afghanistan, theoretically prevented the insurgents from carrying out attacks in major Afghan cities.

But now, faced with these advances in the big cities, The United States, which will complete its exit from Afghanistan at the end of August, has stepped up its airstrikes.

“US forces have deployed several airstrikes in recent days to defend our Afghan partners,” said Commander Nicole Ferrara, spokesperson for the army’s central command.

Shortly before starting to seize provincial capitals this week, the Taliban claimed responsibility for the assassination of the Afghan government’s communications chief, warning they would carry out operations against senior officials in response to increased bombing. .

The Taliban’s rapid offensive has sparked international concern. This week at a United Nations Security Council meeting, UN envoy to Afghanistan Deborah Lyons urged the Taliban to “stop” these “attacks on cities.”