Kabul [Afghanistan], August 11 (ANI): The Taliban on Tuesday captured the eighth provincial capital in Afghanistan – the city of Pul-e-Khumri, the capital of Baghlan province, which is north of Kabul, overrunning eight provinces in five days.
Local officials said that the Taliban had flooded Farah in western Afghanistan and Pul-i-Khumri in the north, reported The New York Times.
Mohammad Kamin Baghlani, a pro-government militia commander in Baghlan, said that Pul-i-Khumri had fallen on Tuesday and that his forces had retreated to the south.
“All areas of the city fell,” he said. “We were under a lot of pressure, and we were not able to resist anymore.”
Gulbuddin, a police officer in Farah city who like many Afghans goes by one name, said that government officials had fled to an army headquarters several miles outside the city and that the main prison had been breached by Taliban fighters. The streets, he said, were full of freed inmates, reported The New York Times.
The Taliban had been encroaching for some time on Farah city, the capital of the province with the same name, as the western province has been a focal point for the group’s offensive operations in the country’s west for years.
Pul-i-Khumri is on the highway connecting the northern provinces to Kabul, meaning the terrorists need only to turn south and advance to begin putting even more pressure on the country’s capital.

Farah Province sits on the main highway that runs to the western city of Herat, where Taliban fighters have also laid siege. The province also shares a border with Iran; the main border crossing there was seized by the Taliban last month.
Taking Farah and other cities in the area would allow the group to funnel insurgent fighters toward Herat or elsewhere to reinforce other positions, while also limiting Afghan security forces’ ability to relocate to aircraft, which are in short supply because of a lack of maintenance resources and exhausted pilots, reported The New York Times.
The same can be said for Pul-i-Khumri. With the city under Taliban control, along with the key north-south highway that runs through it, the insurgents are dangerously close to completely isolating the north of the country.
Farah and Pul-i-Khumri‘s likely fall comes as the Afghan security forces have been fending off attacks in other cities, including in the province of Herat, where fighting has been reported outside the capital, reported The New York Times.
The Taliban are entrenched in Kandahar and Lashkar Gah in the south and outside Faizabad, the capital of Badakhshan, the remote Northern Province that was once considered an anti-Taliban stronghold.
It cannot be understated what these losses will inevitably do to the already dwindling morale of the government security forces.
The seizure of now six provincial capitals in the northern provinces in five days has sent thousands of refugees south to seek refuge in Kabul, the country’s capital.
In the last few days alone, the Taliban has captured six provincial capitals, mainly in the north of the country, including Kunduz, Taluqan city, Sheberghan, Zaranj, and Samangan province’s capital Aybak city.
Afghanistan is witnessing a surge in violence as the Taliban has intensified its offensive against Afghan forces and civilians with the complete pullback of foreign forces just a few weeks away.

Over 30,000 families displaced amid Taliban onslaught in Kandahar

Over 30,000 people in the South of Afghanistan have been displaced due to violence in the region, particularly in the Kandahar province, which has witnessed heavy fighting in recent months as Taliban terrorists mount a blistering offensive, government officials said.
There were also many families who have been displaced in the provinces of Farah Badghis and Helmand, TOLOnews reported.
The new wave of deadly clashes by Taliban terrorists started in Afghanistan last month.
With US and NATO forces announcing withdrawal from the country, the Taliban began an assault on major cities and seized control of several cities.

Taliban have also attacked civilians and imposed regressive and barbaric rules in the provinces that fell to them.
In less than a week, the Taliban captured seven out of 34 provincial capitals in the country.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet on Tuesday informed that at least 180 million people have been killed while more than 1,180 have been wounded in four Afghan cities alone since July 9 as Taliban offensives have escalated.
The Afghan government forces and the Taliban must stop fighting “to prevent bloodshed.”
If they fail to return to the negotiating table and reach an agreement, the situation for the Afghan people will become “even worse,” Sputnik reported citing Michelle Bachelet.

183 killed, 1,181 injured in Afghanistan since July 9, says UN body

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet on Tuesday informed that at least 180 million people have been killed while more than 1,180 have been wounded in four Afghan cities alone since July 9 as Taliban offensives have escalated.
The Afghan government forces and the Taliban must stop fighting “to prevent bloodshed.” If they fail to return to the negotiating table and reach an agreement, the situation for the Afghan people will become “even worse,” Sputnik reported citing Michelle Bachelet.
“We know that urban warfare results in scores of civilians being killed. We have seen it before, too many times. In Afghanistan, since 9 July in four cities alone – Lashkar Gah, Kandahar, Herat and Kunduz – at least 183 civilians have been killed and 1,181 injured, including children. These are just the civilian casualties we have managed to document, the real figures will be much higher,” Bachelet said in a statement.
The UN high commissioner also called upon all the countries to use their influence and leverage to put an end to the conflict, which has taken another turn as foreign troops began withdrawing from Afghanistan and the Taliban went on the offensive, Sputnik reported.
Afghanistan‘s newly-appointed Ambassador to the United Nations (UN) Gholam Mohammad Ishaaqzai urged the United Nations to declare the Taliban a destructive group and to take urgent actions against it.

The government of Afghanistan also asked the international community to look at and pressure the main centres of the Taliban in Pakistan, Ishaaqzai said.
Meanwhile, the Taliban have captured Samangan province’s capital Aybak city as US troops continue their drawdown from Afghanistan.
The Taliban‘s recent skirmish became aggressive soon after the US troops started leaving war-torn Afghanistan in large numbers under the new peace deal signed between Washington and the insurgent group in February last year.
As the Taliban intensified attacks, Afghanistan started urging global organisations and to address the deteriorating situation in the country.
Today, an airstrike by US B-52 bombers killed 11 Taliban terrorists in the war-torn country. (ANI)