The Taliban Thursday captured Ghazni, a strategic center of Ghazni province, just 150 km off Kabul, bringing the total number of provincial centers under their control to ten, in a week-long offensive sweeping across northern Afghanistan. Herat city, the last remaining stronghold of the government in the west, was also breached by insurgents.  

The insurgent group now roughly controls around 70 percent of Afghanistan and are threatening to the topple the government in the weeks ahead. 

Ghazni links the Afghan capital with the country’s southern provinces, which are already under assault as part of an insurgent push some 20 years after U.S. and NATO troops invaded and ousted the Taliban government.

Both, the governor and police chief of Ghazni province had reportedly cut a deal with the Taliban in exchange for their safe passage to Kabul. They were arrested upon their arrival in Kabul, the Interior Ministry confirmed. 

Thousands of refugees fled to Kabul as more and more areas fell under the Taliban control. Zabihullah Mujahid, the group spokesperson, also claimed that Kandahar, the provincial center of the province of the same name, has come under their control. 

The latest assessment by US intelligence suggested Kabul could fall between 30 to 90 days. However, the current pace suggests Kabul's fall could be a matter of days now. 

Fighting meanwhile raged in Lashkar Gah, one of Afghanistan’s largest cities in the Taliban heartland of Helmand province, where surrounded government forces hoped to hold onto that provincial capital. Latest reports suggest the army and police headquarters fell to the Taliban and only the governor compound is left to be conquered. 

Several media on Thursday suggested that the government has reportedly offered the Taliban share in power in exchange for the group immediately halting their offensive in cities. The government though has not publicly confirmed any such offer. 

In the north, once considered as the bastion for anti-Taliban resistance, district after district collapsed quickly, leaving a few pockets where local commanders along with security forces still hold control. Herat and Mazar-e-Sharif, the two big cities in northern Afghanistan, have so far managed to fend off the Taliban’s repeated offensives. 

Jen Psaki, the White House spokesperson, said, “The Taliban also has to make an assessment about what they want their role to be in the international community.” Germany has said today that it will cease funding to the country if the Taliban took power by force and impose strict Sharia laws. 
 
More and more local officials are now cutting deals with the Taliban in exchange for their personal safety, further shrinking the territory still under the control of the government. Army depots, with heavy weapons and ammunition, are also falling to the Taliban, giving further fighting advantage to insurgents. 
 
(SAM)