AFGHANISTAN. Kabul: The Sheberghan city, capital of Jawzjan province, in northern Afghanistan, became the second provincial capital that was captured by Taliban in the past two days. Yesterday, Nimruz provinces in southwestern Afghanistan fell to the Taliban without any resistance from the Afghan armed forces.
According to the sources, Shaberghan city fell to the Taliban after one week of heavy clashes. This morning the Taliban had already released their prisoners after taking over the security posts in the area.
The remaining security forces are stationed only at the provincial airport in Khwaja Dako district, which is the hometown of former vice president Marshal Abdul Rashid Dostum. It is located 17 kilometers from the city of Sheberghan.
Yar Muhammad Dustom, son of Abdul Rashid Dostum has been fighting in the province for weeks now. Dostum’s son Yar Mohammad Dostum is leading the public uprising forces in their fight against the Taliban in Jawzjan.
Dostum has been frequently criticizing the Afghan government for not equipping his forces in defense of the city.
With the fall of Sheberghan, 15 media outlets, including TV stations and radio networks, have stopped operation in the province.
The Defense Ministry said that Afghan forces operations to suppress the Taliban are underway and that the situation in the country’s provincial capitals will soon return to normal.
Raging battle in Afghanistan
On Friday, the Taliban captured Zaranj city, the capital of Nimroz province in southwestern Afghanistan. Zaranj fell to the Taliban with no resistance by government forces.
Dostum’s spokesman Ehsanullah Nairo said that Dostum presented his plan for the improvement of the security situation to the president, and it was accepted by President Ghani.
“There will be significant improvements in military affairs,” he said. “A major meeting will be held in the coming days and the most important suggestion by Marshal Dostum to President Ghani was the announcement of an emergency status.”
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Recently, MailOnline reported that US President Joe Biden has ordered B-52 bombers and Spectre gunships to target the Taliban in Afghanistan.
The situation continues to deteriorate in Afghanistan’s central provinces including Herat, Helmand, Kandahar that led many Afghan civilians to flee their homes. Experts say Lashkargah, Kandahar, and Herat, could be next as the Taliban already made it into these cities and are fighting Afghan forces and local uprising forces.
