Taliban fighters captured the city of Ghazni on Thursday, the ninth provincial capital they have seized in a week, as US intelligence said Afghanistan’s capital, Kabul, a few hours drive away, could fall to the insurgents within 90 days.
A government source tells that the Afghan government has offered the Taliban a share in power so long as the rising violence in the country comes to a halt.Meanwhile, fighting is raging in Lashkar Gah, one of Afghanistan’s largest cities in the Taliban heartland of Helmand province.
The Lashkar Gah regional police headquarters were taken by the armed group, with some police officers surrendering to the fighters and others retreating to the nearby governor’s office still held by government forces.
The speed of the Taliban advance here has sparked widespread recriminations over US President Joe Biden's decision to withdraw US troops and leave the Afghan government to fight alone.
With the last of the US-led international forces set to leave by the end of August, the Taliban has taken control of about two-thirds of Afghanistan having mounted an offensive on multiple fronts
Finding rural districts too hard to defend, government forces have withdrawn to protect Kabul and other cities, prompting thousands of families to flee the provinces in hope of finding safety there.A senior security official said the Taliban had captured Ghazni, 150 km (93 miles) southwest of Kabul on the highway between the capital and the second city of Kandahar. The militants had occupied Ghazni’s government agency headquarters after heavy clashes, he said.
“All local government officials, including the provincial governor, have been evacuated towards Kabul,” said the official who declined to be identified.
Fighting has also been intense in the southern city of Kandahar. The city hospital had received scores of bodies of members of the armed forces and some wounded Taliban, a doctor said late on Wednesday.
The Taliban said they had captured Kandahar’s provincial prison.
“Fighting did not stop until 4 am and then after the first prayers it started up again,” said an aid worker in Kandahar.The Taliban said they had seized airports outside the cities of Kunduz and Sheberghan in the north and Farah in the west, making it even more difficult to supply beleaguered government forces.
The Taliban said they had also captured the provincial headquarters in Lashkar Gah, the embattled capital of the southern province of Helmand, a hotbed of militant activity.
Government officials there were not immediately available for comment. Fighting had also flared in the northwestern province of Badghis, its governor said.
Bordering Pakistan, Kandahar and other southern and eastern provinces have long been Taliban heartlands but it has been in the north where they have made their biggest gains in recent weeks.
Even when the Taliban ruled the country they never controlled all of the north. This time, they appear to be determined to secure it fully before turning their attention to Kabul.
