Taliban take Ghazni city on road to Afghan capital

Taliban fighters captured the city of Ghazni on Thursday, the ninth provincial capital they have seized in a week, as U.S. intelligence said Afghanistan’s capital, Kabul, a few hours drive away, could fall to the insurgents within 90 days.

The speed of the Taliban advance has sparked widespread recriminations over US President Joe Biden’s decision to withdraw US troops and leave the Afghan government to fight alone.

With the last of the U.S.-led international forces set to leave by the end of August, the Taliban has taken control of about two-thirds of Afghanistan having mounted an offensive on multiple fronts.

Finding rural districts too hard to defend, government forces have withdrawn to protect Kabul and other cities, prompting thousands of families to flee the provinces in hope of finding safety there.

A senior security official said the Taliban had captured Ghazni, 150 km (93 miles) southwest of Kabul on the highway between the capital and the second city of Kandahar. The militants had occupied Ghazni’s government agency headquarters after heavy clashes, he said.

“All local government officials, including the provincial governor, have been evacuated towards Kabul,” said the official who declined to be identified.

Fighting has also been intense in the southern city of Kandahar. The city hospital had received scores of bodies of members of the armed forces and some wounded Taliban, a doctor said late on Wednesday.

The Taliban said they had captured Kandahar’s provincial prison.

“Fighting did not stop until 4 a.m. and then after the first prayers it started up again,” said an aid worker in Kandahar.

The Taliban said they had seized airports outside the cities of Kunduz and Sheberghan in the north and Farah in the west, making it even more difficult to supply beleaguered government forces.

The Taliban said they had also captured the provincial headquarters in Lashkar Gah, the embattled capital of the southern province of Helmand, a hotbed of militant activity.

Government officials there were not immediately available for comment. Fighting had also flared in the northwestern province of Badghis, its governor said.

Desperate to stem the Taliban onslaught, President Ashraf Ghani flew to Mazar-i-Sharif on Wednesday to rally old warlords he had previously tried to sideline, now needing their support to defend the biggest city in the north as the enemy closed in.

Under a deal struck between the United States and the Taliban last year, the insurgents agreed not to attack U.S.-led foreign forces as they withdraw by the end of this month, in exchange for a vow not to let Afghanistan be used for international terrorism.