The noose around the Afghan capital Kabul is tightening day by day.

On Thursday, the Taliban first conquered the city of Ghazni, thereby cutting the government's connection from Kabul to the south.

On Friday night they announced the most important military successes to date in their war against the government of President Ashraf Ghani: the conquest of Kandahar and Herat, the largest cities in the country after Kabul.

With Kandahar they control the south of Afghanistan, with Herat the west on the border with Iran.

Rainer Hermann

Editor in politics.

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The Taliban have also hoisted their flag with the Islamic creed on a white background in other, albeit smaller, provincial towns, such as Firuzkoh and Lashkargah.

Of the major cities outside of Kabul, the central government only controls Jalabad in the east and Mazar-e Sharif in the north.

On Wednesday, President Ghani visited Mazar-e Sharif with the aim of coordinating the resistance to the Taliban's offensive.

If the city fell, the Afghan state in the north would collapse.

Even attacks by American B52 bombers, F15 fighter jets and drones did not stop the Taliban.

Wave of displacement

Even if the talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban in Doha, which are being accompanied by representatives from Western and Central Asian countries, are being formally continued, the Taliban will obviously not allow themselves to be dissuaded from their plan to bring the country under their control by force. The call to stand for an election by the Afghan people impresses them little.

The Taliban's offensive has already triggered a great wave of displacement. An independent Afghan human rights organization estimates that one million Afghans have become internally displaced persons in the past few months. For fear of the Taliban's terror, which includes stoning and amputation of limbs as well as the deprivation of rights of women, many seek protection initially in Kabul. There are also believed to be a large number of deserters among the refugees, as there are reports that the Taliban are executing soldiers who surrender.

Thousands of Afghans have arrived from Ghazni. In Kabul, they spend the night in parks, mosques and public buildings. The government is currently building a tent camp for ten thousand people. The Taliban control part of the border with Pakistan, making it difficult to flee to the neighboring country to the east. With the conquest of Herat, they could accelerate or stop the flow of refugees towards Iran.

The conquest of the provincial capital Ghazni is a success for the Taliban because it is the first time they have cut through the ring road that connects the major cities.

The government in Kabul can no longer reach the southern provinces of Kandahar, Helmand and Farah by land.

The governor of Ghazni had left the city to the Taliban without a fight, whereupon they escorted him out of the city.

The Interior Ministry said they had arrested the governor for his behavior.

Symbolic and material meaning

The first great triumph for the Taliban is that they have taken the city of Kandahar after three weeks of siege. You took over the office of governor, while the civilian representatives of the state and the government troops have withdrawn. Kandahar has great symbolic and material significance for the Taliban. Because the city and the province of the same name are the birthplace of the movement and, with drug cultivation, its most important source of income. Kandahar is also the center of the Pashtuns, the largest ethnic group in Afghanistan. Even after an international military alliance ended the rule of the Taliban in 2001, the city and province never came to rest. The Taliban had repeatedly tried to regain control of Kandahar. None of the major NATO operations permanently weakened the Taliban.