Afghanistan: The Taliban captured the city of Ghazni, just 150 km from the capital, Kabul.
The Taliban have reportedly captured the city of Ghazni, located just 150 km (95 miles) from the Afghan capital, Kabul. The Taliban now controls all important installations in Ghazni, including the governor’s office, news agency AFP quoted a senior lawmaker as saying.
“The Taliban took control of key areas of the city – the governor’s office, the police headquarters and the prison,” AFP quoted the head of the provincial council, Nasser Ahmad Faqiri, as saying.
Fakiri said fighting continued between rebels and government forces in the area, although a large part of the city had fallen into the hands of the rebels.
The collapse of the strategically important city came hours after the Taliban captured a police headquarters in a provincial capital in southern Afghanistan on Thursday.
Fighting broke out at Lashkar Gah, one of Afghanistan’s largest cities, in the Taliban stronghold of Helmand province, where government forces, hoping to capture the capital after a week-long blitz of militants, fired them across the country, news agency AP reported. Nine others had already been confiscated. .
Afghan security forces and the government have not responded to repeated requests for comment in days of fighting. However, President Ashraf Ghani is trying to launch a counter-offensive, relying on his country’s special forces, warlord militias and US airpower, before the US and NATO retreat at the end of the month.
While the capital of Kabul is not directly threatened in advance, the astonishing speed of the offensive raises questions about how long the Afghan government can maintain control of the slayer of the country it has abandoned.
(with inputs from agencies)
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