Sun 08 August 2021:
The northern Afghan city of Sar-e-Pul has reportedly fallen to the Taliban, just hours after the insurgents claimed to have captured another provincial capital, Kunduz.
“The Taliban have surrounded an army battalion on the outskirts of the city. All other parts of the city are under Taliban control,” Mohammad Hussein Mujahidzada, a member of the Sar-e-Pul provincial council said on Sunday.
The lawmaker had earlier told AFP that the Taliban had entered the centre of the city and “street to street fighting is ongoing.”
On Friday the Taliban seized their first provincial capital, Zaranj in southwestern Nimroz, and followed it up a day later by taking Sheberghan in Jawzjan the following day.
Fighting was also reported on the outskirts of Herat, in the west, and Lashkar Gah and Kandahar in the south.
Afghan government forces have largely abandoned the countryside to the militants, but are now scrambling to defend a string of cities across the country.
The fall of the northern city is a major blow for the central government, which has largely abandoned fighting in the countryside to defend urban centers against Taliban attacks.
Some security forces have retreated towards the airport.
The Taliban have taken two provincial capitals since Friday, but Kunduz is the most significant to fall since the insurgents launched an offensive in May as foreign forces began the final stages of their withdrawal.
Government forces fighting to retake installations
Of all the provincial capitals that the Taliban have captured since Friday, Kunduz – in the far north – is the most significant to fall .
It has been a perennial target for the Taliban, who briefly overran the city in 2015 and again in 2016 but never managed to hold it for long.
The ministry of defence said government forces were fighting to retake key installations.
“The commando forces have launched a clearing operation. Some areas, including the national radio and TV buildings, have been cleared of the terrorist Taliban,” it said in a statement.
Kabul’s inability to hold the north may prove crucial to the government’s long-term survival.
Northern Afghanistan has long been considered an anti-Taliban stronghold that saw some of the stiffest resistance to militant rule in the 1990s.
The region continues to be home to several militias and is also a fertile recruiting ground for the country’s armed forces.
On Friday, Zaranj city in Nimroz fell “without a fight,” according to its deputy governor, becoming the first provincial capital to be taken.
The government has so far not commented on the fall of the provincial capitals, other than saying they would soon be retaken.
That has been a familiar response to most Taliban gains of recent weeks, although government forces have largely failed to make good on promises to retake dozens of districts and border posts.
The withdrawal of foreign forces is due to be complete at the end of this month, ahead of the 20th anniversary of the September 11 attacks on the United States that sparked the invasion which toppled the Taliban.
