accept: In its attempt to gain dominance in Afghanistan, the Taliban on Saturday managed to capture the town of Sheberghan in Jawajan. According to the report of the news agency AFP, this was confirmed by the deputy governor.
Shebergen is the second Afghan provincial capital to be targeted by rebels in less than 24 hours.
“(Government) forces and officials have withdrawn from the airport,” Javazan deputy governor Kader Malia told AFP.
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The city is home to infamous warlord Abdul Rashid Dostum, who returned to Afghanistan this week after being in Turkey for treatment.
Since launching a series of attacks in May, the Taliban have gained control of large parts of rural Afghanistan.
The Taliban captured the town of Zaranj in Nimroj on Friday. According to its deputy governor, the first provincial capital to be taken by the rebels fell “without a fight”.
There was more resistance in Schabergen, AFP quoted sources as saying, with an aide of Dostum confirming that the city had been taken.
The Taliban are using violence to rapidly advance across Afghanistan to gain control after the United States withdrew its troops from the country on May 1.
The Taliban ambushed and killed the director of Afghanistan’s state media center in the capital, Kabul, on Friday following a failed assassination attempt on the country’s caretaker defense minister.
The Taliban have been targeting government officials and people working for the government or foreign forces.
Earlier this week, a Taliban bombing attempted to kill the acting Defense Minister, Bismillah Khan Mohammadi. While Mohammadi was not harmed, at least eight people were killed and 20 injured in an attack in a heavily guarded area of Kabul late Tuesday.
Meanwhile, amid the chaos, the US has already withdrawn most of its forces and is planning to complete the exercise by August 31.
The US embassy in Afghanistan has also urged its citizens to leave the country “immediately using available commercial flight options”.
“Given the security conditions and staffing shortages, the embassy’s ability to assist US citizens in Afghanistan is extremely limited, even within Kabul,” it said.
(with inputs from agencies)
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