Afghanistan: two new northern provincial capitals in Taliban hands

The Taliban on Sunday strengthened their control over northern Afghanistan, seizing two additional provincial capitals, including the large city of Kunduz, in a large offensive that the army seems unable to stop.

A few hours apart, the insurgents took control of Kunduz, 300 km north of Kabul, which they had surrounded for a few weeks, and of Sar-e-Pul, 400 km further west.

"Kunduz has fallen. The Taliban have taken control of all key buildings in the city," said an AFP correspondent there.

The city, which has already fallen twice in recent years to the insurgents, in 2015 and 2016, is a strategic crossroads in northern Afghanistan, between Kabul and Tajikistan.

"It's total chaos"

The capture of Kunduz has been the Taliban's main military success since the start of their offensive in May, launched with the withdrawal of international forces, which must be fully completed by August 31. After having seized vast rural territories without meeting much resistance, they concentrate their efforts since the beginning of August on the big cities, encircling several provincial capitals. "The Taliban have reached the central square of Kunduz, they are being bombed by airplanes," said Abdul Aziz, a resident of central Kunduz. "It's total chaos," he added, contacted by phone by AFP.

At the end of June, the Taliban had taken control of the districts surrounding Kunduz and of the important border post of Shir Khan Bandar, border of Tajikistan, a nerve center for economic relations with Central Asia.

The Defense Ministry said government troops were trying to retake key areas of the city.

"The commando forces have launched a mopping-up operation. Some places, including the national radio and television buildings, have been cleared," he said.

After Kunduz, Sar-e-Pul, 600 km west of Kabul, also fell to the Taliban.

They had already seized on Saturday Sheberghan, 50 km further north, the stronghold of the famous warlord Abdul Rashid Dostom.

"The Taliban surrounded an army battalion on the outskirts of the city. All other parts of the city under Taliban control," said Mohammad Hussein Mujahidzada, a council member from Sar-e-Pul province. .

The Taliban were ousted from power in 2001

Kabul's inability to hold the north of the country could prove crucial to the government's chances of survival.

Northern Afghanistan has always been seen as an anti-Taliban stronghold, where resistance against them was stronger when they came to power in the 1990s.

The Taliban ruled the country between 1996 and 2001, imposing their ultra-rigorous version of Islamic law, before being driven out by an international coalition led by the United States, for their refusal to deliver Osama bin Laden, in the after the attacks of September 11.

A very rapid advance

Friday, the insurgents had also seized, without meeting the slightest resistance, the city of Zaranj, capital of the distant province of Nimroz (southwest), on the border with Iran.

Kandahar (south) and Herat (west), the second and third largest cities in the country, have also been subjected to their assault for several days, as has Lashkar Gah (south), capital of Helmand province, one of the strongholds of the insurgents.

The speed of the Taliban advance took by surprise the observers but also the Afghan security forces, despite the help received from the American air force, which notably bombed the Taliban positions on Saturday in Sheberghan. The United States has stepped up its airstrikes, admitted Commander Nicole Ferrara, spokesman for the US Army Central Command, who told AFP on Saturday: "US forces have carried out several strikes in recent days. air force to defend our Afghan partners ".