Taliban occupy the sixth provincial capital of Afghanistan: official | Taliban News

Taliban militants occupied Ibak, the capital of northern Samangan Province, the sixth capital city to collapse in four days.

Kabul, Afghanistan – The Taliban occupied the sixth province of Afghanistan in four days.

A spokesperson for the armed group sent a message to the media on Monday morning, claiming that it has surpassed Ibak, the capital of the northern province of Samangan.

Samangan’s deputy governor confirmed the takeover to AFP.

He said that shortly after a Taliban spokesperson said on Twitter that all government and police facilities in Ibak had been “cleared”, the Taliban was “under full control.”

Samangan is the fifth northern province to fall into the hands of the Taliban in less than a week, and the sixth province overall.

Unlike Jowzjan, Kunduz and Sar-e-Pol, Samangan was once considered one of the safest provinces in Afghanistan, with the Taliban the least.

However, in the past three years, the group’s influence in the province has grown.

As commandos and reserve forces are sent to turbulent provinces, the fall of Samangan will put more pressure on the already stretched Afghan security institutions.

At the same time, residents of Kandahar, Herat and Rashkar Gah said that fighting near their capitals is still fierce and that the Taliban have been trying to occupy these capitals for more than a month.