The radical Islamic Taliban succeeded in capturing a provincial capital for the first time during their current major offensive in Afghanistan.

According to the Vice-Governor of Nimros Province, Roh Gul Chairsad, the Islamists captured the provincial capital Saranj in southwest Afghanistan on Friday afternoon.

"The Taliban have taken control of the governor's seat as well as the headquarters of the police and the prison administration," said Chairsad of the AFP news agency.

Since the start of the withdrawal of NATO troops from Afghanistan, the Taliban have conquered large parts of Afghanistan;

Saranj is now the first of the Afghan provincial capitals to fall to the Islamists.

The Afghan armed forces are fighting the Taliban on numerous other fronts.

The situation is currently particularly serious in Laschkar Gah, the provincial capital of the southwestern province of Helmand.

According to the UN, dozens of civilians have been killed there in the past few days and numerous families have fled the violence.

Meanwhile, the Taliban are continuing their attacks on high-ranking government officials in Kabul.

On Friday, the Afghan Interior Ministry announced the death of the head of the government's official media information center, Daua Khan Menapal, in an attack in a mosque.

The UN Security Council wanted to deal with the situation in Afghanistan on Friday. The advance of the Taliban and the consequences for security in the region are also the main topic of the summit of the Central Asian states in the Turkmen coastal city of Awaza.