Taliban Capture Afghan Provincial Capital

Special Desk

Taliban have captured the capital of one of Afghanistan’s western provinces in a symbolic milestone. Zaranj, the provincial capital of Nimruz on the Afghanistan-Iran border, has collapsed and is now in the hands of the insurgents, according to the reports.

Zaranj, on the Afghanistan-Iran border, was the first provincial capital to be captured by the insurgents since the Biden administration said it would completely withdraw U.S. troops from Afghanistan.

Local officials said the Taliban had captured Zaranj, in Nimroz province, in a major blow to government forces. The militants continue to make rapid advances in the country, as foreign troops withdraw.

They have taken swathes of countryside and are now targeting key cities. Other provincial capitals under pressure include Herat in the west, and the southern city of Lashkar Gah, in Helmand province.

The Taliban were removed from power in Afghanistan by US-led forces in 2001, but the group has gradually regained strength since and is seizing territory again.

As the US prepares to complete its withdrawal by 11 September, after two decades of war, the Taliban are overrunning Afghan military outposts, town and villages and surrounding major cities, fuelling fears once again that they could topple the government.

The group entered direct talks with the US back in 2018, and in February 2020 the two sides struck a peace deal in Doha that committed the US to withdrawal and the Taliban to preventing attacks on US forces. Other promises included not allowing al-Qaeda or other militants to operate in areas it controlled and proceeding with national peace talks.

But in the year that followed, the Taliban continued to target Afghan security forces and civilians. Now, as the US prepares to leave, the group is resurgent and advancing rapidly across the country.

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Zaranj is a major trading hub near the border with Iran. After capturing surrounding districts, the militants made a sustained bid to seize the city.

A police spokesperson in Nimroz told news agency that the Taliban had been able to capture Zaranj because of a lack of reinforcements from the government. The insurgents claimed victory in a post shared on Twitter.

The UN’s special envoy for Afghanistan, Deborah Lyons, has said the war in the country had entered a “new, deadlier, and more destructive phase”, with more than 1,000 civilians killed in the past month.