Taliban insurgents today continued their fight as they entered a western provincial capital hours after capturing the country's second and third largest cities.
Just around two hour ago, the Taliban captured one more provincial capital in southern Afghanistan.
While the Afghan military remains stuck between a rock and a hard place, Taliban is moving in a lightning speed to capture more cities as the fight rages on.
Now we turn to this developing story.
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The Taliban has literally moved in for the kill, as the seizure of Afghanistan's two major cities - Kandahar and Herat - marks the biggest rewards yet for the Taliban military, who have already taken 12 of Afghanistan's 34 provincial capitals as part of a weeklong blitz.
The nation's capital, Kabul, isn't directly under threat just yet, but the losses and battles elsewhere mean Taliban is further tightening its grip on the country.
Notwithstanding its inability to work full steam ahead to regain control of cities currently controlled by the Taliban, knowing it is better to be safe than sorry, the Afghan military is poised to focus its efforts on defending the capital and just a few other cities not under direct threat yet in the coming days, should the Taliban maintain momentum or even up the tempo. But the Afghan government still can opt to either focus completely on protecting the capital, or regain control of other cities while running the risk of letting the Taliban seize the heart of the country.
Holding over two-thirds of the country, the Taliban has now rendered thousands of Afghans scared out of their minds and irate, and has them fleeing their homes over fears the Taliban will once again impose a callous and repressive regime, and all but eliminate women's rights and conduct public executions. That makes the Taliban more notorious, as it spotlights the catastrophe currently in the country.
All that has the United States sending 3,000 troops to help evacuate some personnel and military attaches from the U.S. Embassy in Kabul.
John Kirby, Pentagon Press Secretary: "The President has ordered the reduction of civilian personnel at our embassy in Kabul and the acceleration of the evacuation of Afghan special immigrant visa applicants from the country. To enable this safe, orderly reduction, the Secretary of Defence has directed the department to position temporary enabling capabilities to ensure the safety and security of US and partner civilian personnel."
Many countries are also offering help to their nationals in Afghanistan to make sure they are in good hands.
Subsequently, Britain announced it will deploy about 600 troops on a short-term basis to support British nationals there and help them leave the country.
Canada is also sending special forces to help evacuate its embassy.
No substantial progress was reported from peace talks in Qatar, despite a demand from the U.S. envoy to the talks that the Taliban end its attacks against civilians, and a warning that any government imposed by force will be rejected. Diplomats have been meeting since the recent outbreak of violence to work out a peaceful resolution.
Meantime, the embattled Afghan government is going down the tubes on the heels of the withdrawal of U.S. military personnel from the country. The current onslaught bespeaks a stunning collapse of Afghan forces as the Taliban smelled blood and started seizing Afghan cities after the U.S. began withdrawing its military personnel.
An outbreak of violence the U.S. State Department spokesman described as "of grave concern."
Ned Price, U.S. State Department Spokesman: "As we have said all along, the increased tempo of the Taliban military engagement and the resulting increase in violence and instability across Afghanistan is of grave concern."
While the Taliban continues to play a game of chicken with the Afghan military, questions as to whether the Taliban would ever rejoin long-stalled peace talks with the Afghan government remain unanswered.
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