Farah, Afghanistan, August 10, 2021 (AP Photo / Mohammad Asif Khan)
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August 11, 2021 The Taliban captured eight of the country's 34 provincial capitals, two new ones in the west and north the previous day, causing civilians to flee en masse. Farah in the west and Pul-e Khumri in the north fell on Tuesday. Since Friday - writes AGI / AFP - the Taliban have taken Zaranj (south-west), Sheberghan (north), the stronghold of the notorious warlord Abdul Rashid Dostom, and above all Kunduz, the main city of the north-east, as well as others three northern capitals, Taloqan, Sar-e-Pul and Aibak. "The Taliban are now in the city, they have raised their flag in the central square and in the governor's office," Mamoor Ahmadzai, a member of parliament from Baghlan province, of which Pul-e Khumri is the capital, told AFP. , 200 km from Kabul.
Insurgents also captured Farah, the capital of the province of the same name, on Tuesday after brief fighting. "They took the governor's office and the police headquarters. The security forces withdrew to an army base," provincial councilor Shahla Abubar told AFP. Zabihullah Mujahid, a spokesman for the insurgents, confirmed. the capture of the two cities on Twitter.
The violence has forced tens of thousands of civilians to flee their homes across the country, with the Taliban accused of numerous atrocities in the areas they have conquered. "When there are two girls in a family, they take one to get married, when there are two boys, they take one to fight," Marwan, a young widow who fled from Taloqan, told AFP in a refugee park in Kabul. . Abdulmanan, a displaced person from Kunduz, said he saw the Taliban behead one of his children, without knowing "if his body was eaten by dogs or buried". About 359,000 people have been displaced to Afghanistan by fighting since the beginning of the year, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM).
At least 183 civilians were killed and 1,181 injured, including children, in one month in the cities of Lashkar Gah, Kandahar, Herat (west) and Kunduz, the UN said Tuesday, adding that these were only the victims that could be documented. . The Taliban launched this offensive in May, at the beginning of the final withdrawal of American and foreign forces, but their advance has accelerated in recent days with the capture of several urban centers. The departure of the international forces must be completed by 31 August, 20 years after their intervention following the attacks of 11 September 2001 against the United States.
"I have no regrets about my decision to leave Afghanistan," US President Joe Biden said Tuesday. Afghans "must have the will to fight" and "must fight for themselves, for their nation". Washington is increasingly frustrated by the weakness of the Kabul army, which the Americans have trained, financed and equipped for years. US diplomat spokesman Ned Price said government forces were "vastly superior in number" to the Taliban and had "the potential to inflict greater casualties". "This idea that the advance of the Taliban cannot be stopped" is not the reality on the ground, he said.