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The Taliban captured the city of Shebergan in Jazjan in less than 24 hours, which is the second capital city of Afghanistan.
Deputy Governor Shebergan said on Saturday that government forces and officials have retreated to the airport on the outskirts of the northern city of Afghanistan, where they are preparing to defend themselves.
“Unfortunately, the city has completely fallen,” Cadel Maria told AFP. “This [government] The troops and officials have retreated to the airport. “
Provincial Assemblyman Bismila Sahir said that Taliban militants have occupied key buildings such as the governor’s office, police headquarters and central prison in the city.
However, the MP Mohammad Karim Jawzjani representing Jawzjan stated that pro-government forces still control some areas in the city, such as the airport and the army brigade.
The city is home to the notorious strongman Abdul Rashid Dostum, who returned to Afghanistan after receiving treatment in Turkey this week.
Dostum oversees one of the largest militia groups in the north, which gained a terrible reputation during the fighting with the Taliban in the 1990s — and was accused of slaughtering thousands of prisoners of war by his troops.
Taliban have Gain access to vast areas of rural Afghanistan Since the launch of a series of offensives in May, it has coincided with the beginning of the final withdrawal of foreign troops.
The defeat or retreat of the Dostum fighters will weaken the Kabul government’s recent hopes that armed groups can help support the country’s over-stretched military.
Zaranj city in Nimruz on Friday Fall into the Taliban According to its deputy governor, “surrender without a fight” became the first provincial capital occupied by armed groups.
“The Taliban say they control all major government buildings, governor’s compound, police and intelligence headquarters,” Al Jazeera’s James Beth reported in the Afghan capital Kabul.
Social media posts indicate that the Taliban have been welcomed by some residents of the desert city of Shebergen. They showed captured military Hummers, luxury SUVs, and pickups galloping down the streets, and they fluttered white Taliban flags as residents (mainly young people and young people) cheered for them.
“Due to the strong propaganda of the Taliban, the morale of the Afghan security forces is low,” a senior city official who asked not to be named told AFP.
“Even before the Taliban attack…Most security forces put their weapons on the ground, took off their uniforms, and fled the troops.”
The Afghan government has not yet made official comments on the fall of the two cities.
Sheberghan was captured the day after the head of the Afghan government’s media and information department was arrested. Shot In Kabul, the Taliban claimed to have launched an attack.
After the attempted assassination of the country’s defense minister on Tuesday, the Taliban warned that it is now targeting senior government officials in retaliation for the increased air strikes.
The Taliban have taken control of most of the rural areas and are now challenging government forces in other provincial capitals, including Herat near the western border of Iran, and Lashkar Gah and Kandahar in the south.
Rasik Maruf, a militant from Kunduz, told AFP by phone on Saturday that fierce fighting took place overnight in the suburbs of several areas of the city, and the Taliban were obviously unable to make significant progress.
He said that the government forces are “seriously defending” and carrying out air strikes against Taliban mortars and heavy weapons.
The latest acquisition comes as the United Nations warns that the conflict may be entering a “more deadly and destructive phase.”
Deborah Lyons, the UN special envoy for Afghanistan, told the Security Council on Friday: “Attacks on urban areas are deliberately causing great harm and causing large numbers of civilian casualties.”
“Nevertheless, the threat to the metropolitan area seems to be a strategic decision by the Taliban, and they have accepted the massacre that may follow.”
Afghanistan’s ambassador to the United Nations, Ghulam Isakzai, urged the Security Council to take action to “prevent catastrophic situations”.
“We are shocked by the reports and incidents of the Taliban and its foreign terrorist associates that have severely violated human rights in nearly half of our country. We are extremely worried about the safety and security of the people in the cities under the Taliban’s attacks,” he said.
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