Taliban fighters sit on the again of a automobile within the metropolis of Herat, west of Kabul, Afghanistan.
An Afghan lawmaker on Saturday mentioned that town of Mazar-e-Sharif, the capital of Balkh province, has fallen to the Taliban after the insurgents launched a significant assault, in line with AP.
The Taliban have captured a big, closely defended metropolis in northern Afghanistan in a significant setback for the federal government, and the insurgents are approaching the capital lower than three weeks earlier than the US hopes to finish its troop withdrawal.
The autumn of Mazar-e-Sharif, the nation’s fourth-largest metropolis, which Afghan forces and two highly effective former warlords had pledged to defend, fingers the insurgents management over all of northern Afghanistan, confining the Western-backed authorities to the middle and east.
Abas Ebrahimzada, a lawmaker from the Balkh province the place town is situated, mentioned the nationwide military surrendered first, which prompted pro-government militias and different forces to lose morale and quit within the face of a Taliban onslaught launched earlier Saturday.
Ebrahimzada mentioned Abdul Rashid Dostum and Ata Mohammad Noor, former warlords who command 1000’s of fighters, had fled the province and their whereabouts have been unknown.
The Taliban have made main advances in current days, together with capturing Herat and Kandahar, the nation’s second-and third-largest cities. They now management about 20 of Afghanistan’s 34 provinces, leaving the Western-backed authorities with a smattering of provinces within the heart and east, in addition to the capital, Kabul.
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On Saturday, the Taliban captured all of Logar province, simply south of Kabul, and detained native officers, mentioned Hoda Ahmadi, a lawmaker from the province. She mentioned the Taliban have reached the Char Asyab district, simply 11 kilometers (7 miles) south of the capital.
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani had flown to Mazar-e-Sharif on Wednesday to rally town’s defenses, assembly with a number of militia commanders, together with Dostum and Noor.
On Saturday, Ghani delivered a televised speech, his first public look for the reason that current Taliban beneficial properties. He vowed not to surrender the “achievements” of the 20 years for the reason that US toppled the Taliban after the 9/11 assaults.
(With inputs from AP)
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