A senior official confirmed on Friday that the Taliban has captured its first provincial capital since launching an offensive with the departure of foreign troops, a move for a government defending a string of cities against insurgents. There is a significant psychological setback.
“The city of Zaranj, the provincial capital of Nimroj, has come under Taliban control,” deputy governor Roh Gul Khairzad told AFP.
She said the city – in southwest Afghanistan near the Iranian border – had collapsed “without a fight”, and social media showed rebels roaming the streets, being cheered by residents.
The veracity of the video could not be immediately confirmed.
Zaranj’s fall came on the same day that the Taliban claimed responsibility for the assassination of the head of the Afghan government’s media information department.
The rebels had warned days earlier that they would target senior administration officials in response to increased air strikes.
The assassination of Dawa Khan Mainpal, one of the government’s leading voices, was followed by another bloody day of fighting as the war spread rapidly in Kabul.
There are also reports from southwestern Afghanistan during a UN Security Council meeting in New York to discuss the conflict.
Interior ministry spokesman Mirwais Stanikzai said of Menapal’s death, “Unfortunately, brutal terrorists have once again committed a cowardly act and killed a patriotic Afghan.”
Menapal was popular in Kabul’s tight-lipped media community, and was known on social media for driving out the Taliban – even in jest.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for the death, with spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid sending a message to the media saying that “he was killed in a special attack carried out by the Mujahideen”.
The killing comes after militants warned of further attacks on Wednesday targeting Afghan government leaders.
A day earlier, Defense Minister Bismillah Mohammadi survived an assassination attempt in a bomb and gun attack.
Afghan and US forces have intensified airstrikes in several cities in their fight against the insurgents, and the Taliban said Tuesday’s Kabul attack was their response.
Fighting in Afghanistan’s long-running conflict has intensified since May, when foreign forces began the final phase of withdrawal, due to be completed later this month.
The Taliban already control large parts of the countryside, and are now challenging government forces in several provincial capitals.
‘nothing left’
Government forces continue to carry out airstrikes and commando raids on Taliban positions, and the Defense Ministry on Friday claimed to have eliminated more than 400 insurgents in the past 24 hours.
Both sides often exaggerate battlefield casualties, making independent verification nearly impossible.
But as Afghan officials claim a tough fight against the Taliban, security forces have yet to pull the militants out of the provincial capitals they have already entered – hundreds of thousands of civilians killed in recent weeks. was forced to flee.
Social media was also flooded with videos of the devastating toll in the southern city of Lashkar Gah, with posts showing a major market area in flames.
According to a statement released by the organization on Friday, aid group Action Against Hunger said its offices were hit by an “air bomb” in the city earlier this week.
“The building was marked from the street and roof to a non-governmental (NGO) organization, and the location of the office has often been reported to the parties involved in the conflict,” the group said. The employee was not harmed.
In the western city of Herat, a steady stream of people were leaving their homes in anticipation of a government attack on Taliban-held positions.
“We are completely evacuated,” said Ahmed Zia, who lives in the western part of the city.
“We have nothing left and we don’t know where to go,” he told AFP.
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