By RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi
August 9, 2021
Afghan security forces battled Taliban fighters in the northern provinces of Balkh and Takhar on August 9, a day after militants overran three provincial capitals, including most of the strategic northeastern city of Kunduz, officials said.
In Balkh, heavy clashes have been under way close to the provincial capital of Mazar-e-Sharif since late on August 8, sources told Tolo News, adding that the government’s defense lines risk breaking unless reinforcement are sent to the region.
On August 8, the Taliban overran most of the strategic northeastern city of Kunduz, while the provincial capital of Sar-e Pol and Taloqan, the capital of northeastern Takhar Province, also fell to the militants, sources who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal told RFE/RL.
Fighting in Afghanistan has intensified since May 1, when the United States and other countries officially began withdrawing their forces in a pullout that is expected to be completed by the end of this month.
The three centers that fell on August 8 brought to five the number of provincial capitals under complete or near-total Taliban control after militants on August 6 took Zaranj, the capital of the southwestern Nimroz Province, and the northern Jawzjan Province’s capital, Sheberghan.
Kunduz, a city of some 375,000 inhabitants, would be the most significant to fall since the Taliban launched an all-out offensive in May as U.S.-led forces began the final stages of their withdrawal.
Government forces in Kunduz appeared to be only in control of the airport and their own base, with all key government buildings in the city in the militants’ hands.
The main prison in Kunduz was also reportedly under Taliban control.
However, the Afghan Defense Ministry denied that Kunduz had fallen, saying in a statement on August 8 that commandos launched a clearance operation in the city, adding that the main roundabout in the city center has been recaptured and the national TV building cleared of Taliban fighters.
Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said the group had largely captured the government buildings, including the National Directorate of Security, and were close to the airport.
In comments to Al-Jazeera TV, a spokesman for the extremist group’s political office said there was no agreement for a cease-fire with Kabul’s forces.
Many civilians were caught in the cross fire, with health officials in Kunduz saying that 14 bodies, including those of women and children, and more than 30 injured people had been taken to hospital.
The Taliban was also in control of Sar-e Pol, driving officials out of the main city to a nearby military base, said Mohammad Noor Rahmani, a provincial council member of Sar-e Pol Province.
“Sar-e-Pol fell today at 3:45 a.m. The Taliban has occupied the capital of Sar-e-Pol Province,” Abdul Haq Shafaq, the provincial governor, told Radio Azadi on August 8.
Nabila Habibi, head of the provincial women’s affairs department in Sar-e Pol, told RFE/RL that she feared for her life and those of the other women who worked in the field.
“Today I received a message from the national security office, who themselves may have fled around the city, that I should leave the city because the opposition (the Taliban) has issued my death order,” Habibi said from Sar-e Pol.
She said it was clear that the Taliban “never want women to be present or active in society, especially in politics” and have never accepted women’s rights activists. She said she had been threatened many times by the Taliban and in the past three days had been warned over the phone.
The Taliban has also taken most of Lashkar Gah, the capital of southern Helmand Province, where militants took nine of the 10 police districts in the city last week. Heavy fighting there continues, as do U.S. and Afghan government air strikes, one of which damaged a health clinic and a high school.
The U.S. Central Command has said the troops withdrawal is more than 95 percent complete and will be finished by August 31, ahead of the September 11 anniversary of two decades since the Al-Qaeda attacks on the United States that prompted the invasion of Afghanistan.
This story includes reporting by Radio Azadi correspondents on the ground in Afghanistan. Their names are being withheld for their protection.
With reporting by Reuters, AP, AFP, and Tolo News