The Taliban movement took control of new areas in northern Afghanistan on Wednesday, continuing its rapid advance, the pace of which, according to reports, surprised officials in the US administration.

A US defense official told Reuters today, Wednesday, on condition of anonymity, that the intelligence assessment indicates that the movement may isolate the Afghan capital, Kabul, from the rest of the country within 30 days, and may be able to control it within 90 days.

Until last month, US intelligence assessments had been warning that the Afghan government could fall shortly after the withdrawal of US forces, perhaps within six months.

The US official said the new assessment is based on the rapid gains the Taliban are making across the country.

Not a foregone conclusion

But he added that this was "not an inevitable outcome," and said Afghan security forces could turn things around by offering more resistance to the movement.

It was not clear whether that was the unanimous opinion of the US intelligence community, or that different intelligence agencies had divergent views, which is commonplace.

For his part, US President Joe Biden said - on Tuesday - that he has no regrets about his decision to withdraw his country's forces from Afghanistan after spending more than 20 years there, and added that the number of Afghan forces exceeds the number of Taliban fighters and they must have the will to fight.

Afghan government forces in Herat (European)

Washington withdrew all its forces from Afghanistan, with the exception of a group that will remain to protect the American embassy and an airport in Kabul, provided that the military mission ends on August 31.

On the other hand, a senior European Union official said - on Tuesday - that the Taliban forces now control 65 percent of Afghanistan and that they have controlled or threatened the capitals of 11 Afghan provinces.

Ninth state

In the latest developments, the Taliban announced that it had taken control of the city of Faizabad, the center of Badakhshan province in northern Afghanistan, to be the ninth capital of a province controlled by the movement in less than a week, while the Afghan president dismissed the army chief and appointed a new general in his place.

The movement's spokesman - Zabihullah Mujahid - said that Taliban fighters took control of the provinces of Baghlan and Badakhshan last night, in the northeast of the country, and that they targeted with missiles the Bagram military base, north of the capital, Kabul.

He added that the movement is now controlling the states of Nimroz, Jawzjan, Sarbel, Kunduz, Takhar, Semangan, Farah, Baghlan and Badakhshan.


The capitals of the nine states controlled by the Taliban (out of 34 Afghan state capitals), 6 of them are in the north, while they control large parts of other states without their capitals.

In the face of the defeats inflicted on the government forces, Al-Jazeera correspondent quoted an Afghan government source as saying that the commander of the Afghan army, General Wali Muhammad Ahmad Zai, was dismissed, and General Haibatullah Ali Zai was appointed as the new commander of the army.

The President arrives at Mazar-i-Sharif

This coincided with the arrival of Afghan President Muhammad Ashraf Ghani to the city of Mazar-i-Sharif, the capital of Balkh province in the north of the country.

Al-Jazeera correspondent quoted a security source as saying that the Afghan president will open a center for operations against Taliban militants in the northern states in the city.

President Ghani (centre) faces a challenge in trying to preserve the survival of his government (Reuters)

Ghani chaired a high-level meeting with civilian and military officials, tribal leaders and political parties regarding the security and field situation in Balkh Province.

A source close to General Abdul Rashid Dostum said that the Afghan President is expected to assign General Dostum to oversee operations against Taliban militants.

Dostum said - in a video clip posted by Afghan journalists on the communication platforms - that the Taliban will not be able to get out of the areas they are trying to control in northern Afghanistan, in reference to the government forces' response to the attacks of the movement's militants.

Doha meetings

On the political side, meetings are continuing in the Qatari capital, Doha, between the countries participating in the expanded international conference on Afghanistan.

It is expected that Russia, the United States, China and Pakistan will meet today to discuss the latest developments in the crisis in Afghanistan.

The Afghan government delegation, headed by the Chairman of the Supreme Reconciliation Committee - Abdullah Abdullah - had concluded yesterday, Tuesday, its meetings with the delegations of the participating countries, and a delegation from the Taliban movement joined the meeting.

Abdullah said the Taliban had violated their commitments by escalating war and violence and launching attacks on cities.

He added during his meeting with special envoys from the international community that the movement is not ready to discuss the main issues to resolve the crisis.

But he stated that he spoke with Taliban representatives and agreed with them to speed up negotiations, find a political solution and accept the presence of a mediator.