[ad_1]
DEVELOPING HISTORY
Taliban fighters seize Aibak, the northern capital of Samangan – the sixth provincial capital to fall in four days.
Kabul, Afghanistan – The Taliban captured the sixth province of Afghanistan in four days.
The spokesperson for the armed group sent messages to the media on Monday morning, saying he had passed Aibak, the capital of northern Samangan province.
The vice-governor of Samangan province confirmed the takeover to the AFP news agency.
The Taliban are “in full control,” he said, shortly after a Taliban spokesman tweeted that all government and police facilities in Aibak had been “cleaned up.”
Samangan is the fifth northern province to fall to the Taliban in less than a week, and the sixth overall.
Unlike Jowzjan, Kunduz, and Sar-e-Pol, Samangan was once known to be one of the safest provinces in Afghanistan, with a minimal Taliban province.
However, the past three years have seen a growing presence of the group in the province.
The fall of Samangan will further strain an already stretched Afghan security establishment, as commandos and relief forces are dispatched to troubled provinces.
Meanwhile, residents of Kandahar, Herat and Lashkar Gah say fighting is still raging near their capitals, which the Taliban have been trying to invade for more than a month.
[ad_2]
Source link
