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Taliban fighters captured one of Afghanistan’s main cities on Sunday as militants seized on the withdrawal of US forces and the collapse of resistance to invade the country’s provincial capitals.
The fall of the city of Kunduz, capital of the northern province of the same name, could deal a blow to crumbling Afghan government forces after the militant group captured two more regional centers in as many days.
“The Taliban captured Kunduz after heavy fighting in which both sides suffered losses. We left Kunduz but the fighting continues for the control of the airport ”, declared Abdul Ahad Torial Kakar, member of the provincial council of Kunduz. Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid also told NBC News that militants captured the city and government officials left their posts.
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Kunduz is the sixth largest city in Afghanistan and a crucial commercial hub. It is a strategic crossroads with easy access to much of the north of the country as well as to the capital, Kabul, about 200 miles away.
The city’s fall, in the heart of a major agricultural region near Tajikistan, comes after insurgent fighters claimed control of Sheberghan, the capital of northern Jawzjan province on Saturday. It was less than 24 hours after Zaranj, the heart of Nimroz province in southwestern Afghanistan, became the first provincial capital to fall to militants since US forces began withdrawing. from the country.
The Taliban recently began to besiege provincial capitals after taking smaller administrative districts.
The militants launched an aggressive offensive in May and advanced across the country at a speed that even surprised some of the fighters themselves.
Recently, the group said it has captured more than half of Afghanistan’s territory, including strategic border posts.
This has prompted thousands of people to flee their homes to seek refuge, both from the fighting and the prospect of a reimposition of the hardline Islamist regime that ruled the country before 2001.
While in power, the Taliban imposed a strict version of Islam that made women and girls virtually invisible in public life.
With the group’s resurgence, a series of assassinations hit Afghanistan, mainly targeting prominent women, journalists, judges and others struggling to maintain a liberal way of life in the country.
U.S. Air Force continues to assist Afghan Air Force bomb Taliban targets in southern Helmand and Kandahar provinces as Afghan security forces attempt to prevent Taliban takeover .
The Taliban seized Kunduz for about two weeks in 2015 before retreating in the face of a NATO-backed Afghan offensive. The insurgents pushed back into the city center a year later, briefly hoisting their flag before being gradually driven out again.
On Saturday, the US and UK embassies in Kabul reiterated a warning to citizens still there to leave “immediately” as the security situation deteriorated.
“The continuation of the Taliban offensive only leads to more bloodshed,” a State Department spokesman said on Friday. “If the Taliban continue down this path, they will be an international pariah without the support of the international community or even the people they say they want to rule.
The United States overthrew the Taliban regime in 2001 after the group sheltered Osama bin Laden, the founder of Al Qaeda and the mastermind of the 9/11 terrorist attacks that sparked America’s longest war.
President Joe Biden said last month that the US military mission to the country would end on August 31 earlier than originally announced.
The conflict claimed the lives of approximately 2,300 American soldiers. From 2001 to 2018, some 58,000 Afghan soldiers and police were killed in the violence, according to a study by Brown University.
Rhea Mogul reported from London, and Mushtaq Yusufzai reported from Peshawar, Pakistan.
The Associated Press contributed.
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