Taliban fighters in Afghanistan enter second provincial capital in several days | world News

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A politician said Taliban fighters have entered the capital of Afghanistan’s Jowzjan province, and are seeking to seize their second provincial capital within several days.

Muhammad Karim Jozjani said that the militants had reached the city of Sheberghan but the Afghan government, although not denying this, insisted that the city had not fallen yet.

Sheberghan is of particular importance because it is the stronghold of the Uzbek warlord Rashid Dostum, whose militia was revived to help Afghan government forces.

Dostum, a former army paratrooper, returned to the province last week after months in Turkey, where he is believed to have been receiving medical treatment.

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His spokesman, Ihsan Nero, told AFP he had met with senior officials to talk about security in Sheberghan.

Residents of the city said that there were intense air strikes and that the Taliban released prisoners from the prison.

The militants took advantage of the departure of foreign forces from the country, quickly took control of vulnerable areas and are now turning their attention to the provincial capitals.

On Friday, the Taliban seized Zaranj, the capital of the southwestern province of Nimroz, and the government said its forces were still fighting inside the city.

More than half of the country’s 421 districts and district centers are in the hands of the Taliban and many provincial capitals are under threat.

The deteriorating situation led to a warning from the UK government on Friday evening, advising Britons to leave the country immediately.

Many of the threatened places are remote, but some are of strategic importance and would give the Taliban control of lucrative border crossings with Iran, Tajikistan and Pakistan.

Photo: Taliban fighters closed the border crossing at Spin Boldak, trapping people and supplies there and on the Pakistani side in Chaman (pictured)

Also on Friday, Taliban fighters closed the border crossing with Pakistan at Spin Boldak, in protest of Pakistan’s demand that all Afghans crossing the border should have Afghan passports and Pakistani visas.

The crossing is important as it is one of the main routes for transporting goods into landlocked Afghanistan from the port city of Karachi, Pakistan.

By Saturday, more than 600 trucks, many carrying perishable food, had been backed up in both countries.

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UK must ‘step up’ to help Afghanistan

Meanwhile, the United States said that the withdrawal of its forces from Afghanistan is more than 95% complete and will be completed by the end of this month, but the US Air Force continues to assist Afghan forces in defending Helmand and Kandahar in the south, in an effort to prevent Taliban takeover.

In Helmand province, provincial council member Naviza Faiz said Taliban forces control nine of the 10 police districts in the capital, Lashkar Gah.

She added that Afghan commandos and regular forces are trying to get the fighters out of the city but without much success, adding that the conditions for civilians are miserable.

Many are trapped in the city, unable to get supplies and unable to reach hospitals for medical help.

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