AFGHANISTAN. Kabul: Districts of Tagab, Darayim, Shahr-e-Bozorg, Yaftal, Tashkaan, Kashm, and Wadoj in northeastern Afghanistan were captured by the Taliban in the past 24 hours, according to sources. Sha Walikot district in Kandahar province, Zarmat district in Paktia province were also invaded and captured by the Taliban.
At least 23 people were reportedly killed in attacks in Badakhshan, and Baghlan.
The Afghan government has not made any comments yet. Meanwhile, the Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said that the group captured the districts along with military equipment, and some Afghan forces resigned to the Taliban. He also claimed that the Afghan forces fled the districts as it was being attacked by the Taliban.
Over the last two months, the Taliban has captured dozens of districts across Afghanistan, some districts were captured forcibly by the Taliban while some were handed over to the militant group.
Taliban and some Afghan officials say that in some districts such as Shireen Tagab and Pashtun Kot and Qaisar districts of Faryab, and Qarabagh and Muqur districts of Ghazni, hundreds of security force members surrendered to the Taliban without any resistance.
But Afghanistan’s Ministry of Interior Affairs (MoI) has said that it will investigate the recent evacuations by government forces from the centers of various districts across the country.
“We evacuated some areas to prevent casualties among civilians and military personnel, and to prevent the damage to residential areas and delay in on-time delivery of supplies to our personnel,” said Rohullah Ahmadzai, spokesman for the Ministry of Defense.
In the past two months, the Taliban has captured more than 120 districts.
“Investigation is underway to find out the main reason,” said Gen. Abdul Sattar Mirzakwal, the acting minister of interior.
The Ministry of Defense has said that lack of equipment and delay in the delivery of emergency assistance to the security forces are among the factors that have led to the problem.
The Taliban advance on taking more territories comes as foreign troops withdraw from Afghanistan nears to complete.
The US and other NATO forces left Bagram Air Base, the biggest airbase of the US military in central Afghanistan, as a mark to end their military mission in Afghanistan after twenty years.
The Afghan officials claimed US officials have handed it over to Afghan National Defense and Security Forces, the Ministry of Defense confirmed on Friday. But sources say looters entered the base and stole much equipment, including laptops.
It is expected that the foreign troops’ withdrawal will complete earlier than the given deadline – September 11.
Earlier, Italian forces had left and handed over the Arena in Herat airport for the Afghan forces. A week ago, Germans forces also left their base in Balkh province completely and handed it over to the Afghan forces.
Also Read: Afghan Government Urges People To Defend Themselves Amid Fall Of The Districts
On Friday, Biden said that some US forces will still be in Afghanistan in September as part of a “rational drawdown with the allies.”
Biden suggested that he is not sure if President Ghani’s government could deal with internal issues to maintain his government.
“I think they have the capacity to be able to sustain the government,” Biden said, “but I am concerned that they deal with the internal issues that they have to be able to generate the type of support they need nationwide to maintain the government.”
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