The Taliban announce their biggest conquest to date: the second largest city in Afghanistan, Kandahar. They were also able to take the important city of Laschkargah in the south. The Islamists have overrun 14 provincial capitals in a hurry.
The militant Islamist Taliban are continuing their dramatic territorial gains. On Friday night, they conquered the second largest city in Afghanistan, Kandahar, in the south of the country. This was confirmed by two parliamentarians and a provincial council of the German press agency. This means that the 14th city falls to the Islamists within a week. The militant Islamist Taliban have also taken the important city of Lashkargah in southern Afghanistan.
Kandahar has more than 650,000 residents. The capital of the province of the same name is the economic center of the south and was the birthplace of the Taliban movement in the 1990s. Kandahar also served as the capital of the Islamists during their rule between 1996 and 2001.
Afghan government withdraws
The government and the Taliban clashed within the city for more than three weeks before security forces evacuated the city, said MP Gul Ahmad Kamin, who represents the province in parliament. The government forces eventually left the main government agencies in Kandahar and sought refuge in the province’s 205th Army Corps.
Laschkargah in Helmand Province had been fiercely contested for weeks. Because of the violent attacks, many Afghans assumed that it would be the first important city to fall to the Islamists. When the government only held two of the ten police districts in the city with an estimated 200,000 inhabitants at the end of July, special forces were once again dispatched from Kabul. With the support of many air strikes by the Afghan and US armed forces, they initially managed to stabilize the situation, although a hospital and a university were also hit.
Taliban capture 14 capitals within a week
After sustained heavy attacks and the use of car bombs against the police headquarters, which is still held by the government, the situation turned in favor of the Taliban on Friday night. Provincial councilor Abdul Majid Achundsada said on Friday morning (local time) that the Taliban had taken the entire city. The commander of the 205th Army Corps, Sami Sadat, was flown out with the governor. The rest of the remaining security forces would have left the city by land.
Of the major cities, the government only holds the capital Kabul, Mazar-i-Sharif in the north and Jalalabad in the east.
With the collapse of the cities of Kandahar and Lashkargah, the Taliban have overrun 14 capitals in the country’s 34 provinces within a week. On Thursday alone, they were able to take three cities – including the third largest city Herat and the strategically important city of Gasni, which is only 150 kilometers from Kabul. Representatives of the Afghan government have not yet commented on the tumultuous events.
US sends 3,000 soldiers
In view of the advance, the US armed forces will immediately move around 3,000 additional soldiers to the airport in Kabul. This is intended to support an orderly reduction in US embassy staff, according to a spokesman for the US Department of Defense. In addition, the US will move up to 4,000 more soldiers to Kuwait and 1,000 to Qatar – if reinforcements are needed.
The withdrawal of US soldiers from Afghanistan should be completed by August 31, the spokesman said on Thursday (local time). Great Britain also wants to send around 600 additional soldiers to help repatriate the British from Afghanistan. Most recently, US President Joe Biden declared in the White House on Thursday that the Afghans now have to “fight for their own state”.
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