Taliban move closer to Afghan capital after taking Ghazni city

Gulf Today Report

The Taliban captured a police headquarters on Thursday in a provincial capital in southern Afghanistan as surrounded government forces hoped to hold onto the capital after the militants' weeklong blitz has seen them already seize nine others around the country.

The Taliban have taken Ghazni city, a senior local lawmaker told the local media reporters on Thursday, the 10th Afghan provincial capital to fall in a week and just 150 kilometres (95 miles) from Kabul.

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Nasir Ahmad Faqiri, head of the provincial council said, "The Taliban took control of the key areas of the city -- the governor's office, the police headquarters and the prison."

Fighting raged on in Lashkar Gah, one of Afghanistan's largest cities in the Taliban heartland of Helmand province, teetering toward being lost to the insurgents as suspected US airstrikes pounded the area, an official said.

Afghanistan president Ashraf Ghani arrives in Mazar-i-Sharif to check the security situation on Wednesday. Reuters

Afghan security forces and the government have not responded to repeated requests for comment over the days of fighting. However, President Ashraf Ghani is trying to rally a counteroffensive relying on his country's special forces, the militias of warlords and American airpower ahead of the US and Nato withdrawal at the end of the month.

Earlier, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani flew to the besieged northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif on Wednesday to rally his beleaguered forces, with Taliban fighters having now taken more than a quarter of the country's provincial capitals in less than a week.

A still image shows what appear to be militants on a pickup truck with a gun in Afghanistan. Reuters

He plans "to check the general security in the northern zone", according to a statement released by the palace.

Afghans receive medical care after being injured in fighting between the Taliban and forces in Mazar-e-Sharif. AP

The loss of Mazar would be a catastrophic blow to the Kabul government and represent the complete collapse of its control over the north – long a bastion of anti-Taliban militias.

Meanwhile, the militants pressed on with their offensive that US intelligence believes could see them take over the capital, Kabul, within 90 days.

The speed of the Taliban advance — they have captured 10 provincial capitals in less than a week and are threatening to take at least three more — has sparked widespread recriminations of US President Joe Biden's decision to withdraw US troops and leave the Afghan government to fight alone.

The Taliban control about two-thirds of Afghanistan, with the last of the US-led international forces set to leave by the end of the month, and their guerrilla army has waged war on multiple fronts, resulting in thousands of families fleeing the provinces in hope of finding safety in the capital, Kabul.

Government officials have appealed for pressure on Pakistan to stop Taliban reinforcements and supplies flowing over the border. Pakistan denies backing the Taliban.

The government has withdrawn from hard-to-defend rural districts to focus on holding population centres. In some places, government forces have given up without a fight.

Internally displaced families from northern provinces take shelter in a public park in Kabul, Afghanistan. Reuters

Six EU member states warned the bloc's executive against halting deportations of rejected Afghan asylum seekers arriving in Europe, fearing a possible replay of a 2015-16 crisis over the arrival of more than a million migrants, mainly from the Middle East.