Wed 11 August 2021:
On Wednesday, Afghan forces essentially collapsed in ninth provincial capital, adding to an already alarming drumbeat of Taliban victories across the country and effectively shutting off the key highway between Kabul with northern Afghanistan provinces.
Taliban claim to have captured the Fayzabad city, the center of the northern Badakhshan province next to Tajikistan.
The group shared images of its armed fighters patrolling the streets and hoisting the white Taliban flag in the main square of the fallen city.
Local sources told Anadolu Agency that the security forces went on retreat after overwhelming Taliban attacks for days.
“The province of Badakhshan with all its belongings has been ‘conquered’,” tweeted Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahed.
The rapid Taliban victories have been a devastating blow to President Ashraf Ghani’s government, and to the military and police forces that the United States and its Western allies spent years and billions of dollars training to stand against the Taliban. And the losses are coming just three weeks before American troops are to complete their final withdrawal from the country.
Seemingly undeterred by a heavy death toll, the Afghan forces claimed to have inflicted on the insurgents, the Taliban continued with their advances on urban centers after capturing around 200 rural districts.
With this, Fayzabad became the ninth provincial capital after Aybak, Qala-e-Nau, Lashkargah, Zaranj, Sheberghan, Kunduz, Taluqan, and Sar-e-Pul to be partly or partially overrun by the Taliban.
After taking over nearly 200 rural districts last month, the Taliban launched assaults on major cities, marching on Herat, Kandahar, Taluqan, and Lashkargah, causing panic and anxiety among millions of civilians.
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