Taliban took control of Afghanistan’s eighth provincial city on Tuesday as part of their push towards Kabul, the country’s capital. After pro-government militias retreated to Kelagi desert, home to a large Afghan army base, Pul-e-Khumri, the capital of Baghlan province in the north, fell.
Pul-i-Khumri is located on the highway that connects Kabul with the northern provinces. Its fall not only puts more pressure on security forces to keep Sunni Pashtun fighters out of the country’s capital, but it also puts the country’s north at risk of complete isolation.
Over the last few days, insurgents have been attacking Kabul. They threw a grenade at a camp of displaced families in Kabul’s District 17 on Monday, injuring three people.
Six provincial capitals, mostly in the north of the country, were already under Taliban control, including Kunduz, Taluqan city, Sheberghan, Zaranj, and Samangan province’s capital Aybak city. On Tuesday, two more were apprehended: Farah and Baghlan.
In the south, the Taliban have strongholds in Kandahar and Lashkar Gah, as well as outside Faizabad, the capital of Badakhshan, a remote Northern Province that was once considered a stronghold against the Taliban.
Attacks on civilians have also increased as a result of the fighters’ increased attacks. On Tuesday, a mortar shell struck the Green Hat area in Ghazni’s first district, killing three civilians and injuring 18 others.
In a statement, UNICEF said that in the ongoing fighting in Kandahar, Khost, and Paktia provinces, 27 children have been killed and 136 injured. The rapid escalation of grave violations against children in Afghanistan has shocked the UN agency. Hundreds of thousands of civilians are at risk in the country, according to the International Committee of the Red Cross.
On Monday, the Taliban abducted journalist Nematullah Himmat from his home in Helmand province. This comes just days after Toofan Omari, a journalist and the founder of the Paktia Voice radio station, was killed by insurgents in Kabul.
