Taliban fighters sit in the back of a vehicle in the city of Herat, west of Kabul, Afghanistan.
An Afghan lawmaker said on Saturday that the city of Mazar-e-Sharif, the capital of Balkh province, had come under Taliban control after rebels launched a major attack, according to the AP.
The Taliban have captured a large, heavily defended city in northern Afghanistan in a major setback for the government, and the insurgents are on their way to the capital less than three weeks ahead of US hopes of completing their troop withdrawal. are.
The fall of Mazar-i-Sharif, the country’s fourth largest city, which the Afghan army and two powerful former warlords had pledged to protect, handed the rebels control of all of northern Afghanistan, limiting the western-backed government to the center and east. done. .
Abas Abrahimzada, a legislator from Balkh province, where the city is located, said the national army surrendered earlier, prompting pro-government militias and other forces to lose morale and give up in the face of a Taliban attack launched on Saturday. .
Ibrahimzada said that Abdul Rashid Dostum and Ata Mohammed Noor, former warlords who command thousands of fighters, had fled the province and their whereabouts were unknown.
The Taliban have made great progress in recent days, including capturing Herat and Kandahar, the country’s second and third largest cities. They now control about 20 of Afghanistan’s 34 provinces, leaving the western-backed government in the center and provinces in the east, as well as the capital, Kabul.
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On Saturday, the Taliban captured all of Logar province south of Kabul and detained local officials, Hoda Ahmadi, an MP for the province, said. He said the Taliban had reached Char Asiyab district, just 11 kilometers (7 miles) south of the capital.
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani went to Mazar-e-Sharif on Wednesday to rally for the city’s security, meeting with several militia commanders, including Dostum and Noor.
On Saturday, Ghani made a televised speech, his first public appearance since recently benefiting the Taliban. He vowed not to give up on the “achievements” of the 20 years since the US toppled the Taliban after the 9/11 attacks.
(With inputs from AP)
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