Taliban capture Mazar-e-Sharif, Afghanistan’s fourth-largest city

Taliban fighters (Hamed Sarfarazi/AP)

Mazar-e-Sharif, the fourth-largest city in Afghanistan, fell to the Taliban on Saturday after a multipronged assault launched by insurgents, according to a lawmaker.

Balkh lawmaker Abas Ebrahimzada said the province’s national army corps surrendered first, which prompted the pro-government militias and other forces to lose morale and give up in the face of the onslaught.