Taliban continued their Afghanistan onslaught with the capture of two more cities. This takes the total number of provincial cities the outfit has captured to eight since last Friday.
Farah, a city of southwestern province and Pul-e-Khumri of the northern province of Baghlan were both taken over by the group on Tuesday.
“This afternoon the Taliban entered the city of Farah after briefly fighting with the security forces. They have captured the governor’s office and police headquarters,” Shahla Abubar, a member of Farah’s provincial council, told the AFP news agency on Tuesday.
Farah is now the second provincial city in the southwest of Afghanistan that the group has taken. On Friday, the militant group captured neighbouring Nimruz province. The occupation of Farah is of strategic importance as it provides another border crossing into Iran for the resurgent outfit.
The capture of Pul-e-Khumri gave the Taliban control of other two bordering northern provinces.
More importantly this brings Taliban close to Kabul, the capital of the country. This will be a major worry for the Afghan government.
The Taliban have captured eight out of 34 provincial capitals in the country in less than a week.