Three more Afghan provincial capitals fall to Taliban

Taliban fighters are seen inside the city of Farah, capital of Farah province southwest of Kabul, Afghanistan, Tuesday, Aug. 10, 2021. (AP Photo/Mohammad Asif Khan)

The Taliban have seized three more provincial capitals in Afghanistan, officials said, putting nine of the nation’s 34 in the insurgents’ hands amid the US withdrawal from the country.

The fall of the capitals of Badakhshan and Baghlan provinces to the north east and Farah to the west put increasing pressure on the country’s central government to stem the tide of the advance.

While the capital Kabul has not been directly threatened by the advance, the Taliban offensive continues to stretch Afghan security forces now largely fighting against the insurgents on their own.

Humayoon Shahidzada, a legislator from Farah, confirmed to the Associated Press that his province’s capital had fallen.

Taliban fighters in the city of Farah (Mohammad Asif Khan/AP)

Hujatullah Kheradmand, a counterpart from Badakhshan, said the Taliban had seized his province.

An Afghan official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Baghlan’s capital had also fallen.

The insurgents earlier captured six other provincial capitals in less than a week, including Kunduz in Kunduz province — one of the country’s largest cities.

Despite a 20-year Western military mission and billions of dollars spent training and shoring up Afghan forces, the regular forces have collapsed, fleeing the battle sometimes by the hundreds.

The fighting has fallen largely to small groups of elite forces and the Afghan air force.

The success of the Taliban blitz has added urgency to the need to restart long-stalled talks in Qatar that could end the fighting and move Afghanistan towards an inclusive interim administration.

The insurgents have so far refused to return to the negotiating table.