Taliban march breeds humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan, 60k families displaced

The latest US military intelligence assessment is that Kabul could come under Taliban pressure within 30 days and that if current trends hold, the insurgents could gain full control of the country within a couple of months.

The Taliban offensive is leading to a humongous humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan. According to the country's disaster management minister Ghulam Bahauddin Jilani, more than 60,000 families in Afghanistan's 34 provinces have been displaced by the escalation of the war in the last two months. At least 17,000 of them have taken refuge in national capital Kabul, which is also being threatened by the Sunni Pashtun fighters.

Internally-displaced Afghan families, who fled from Kunduz, Takhar and Baghlan province due to battles between Taliban and Afghan security forces, walk past their temporary tents in Kabul on August 11. (AFP Photo)

The stunning speed at which the Taliban are capturing large swathes of land in Afghanistan raises questions of how long the Afghan government can maintain control of the parts the country it has left.

Watch: Taliban seize Mi-35 attack helicopter gifted by India from Kunduz

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) warned on Tuesday that the failure to stem the rising violence and human rights violations and abuses is having disastrous consequences for the people of Afghanistan.

Various local news reports say that killings of women and children have risen almost 50 per cent since the Taliban intensified their fight to capture Afghanistan in the wake of withdrawal of US and Nato forces. The reports said that at least 468 children have been killed this year.

One of the most criticised moves by the Taliban is a decree saying their fighters can take girls as young as 13 or 14, if they have been widowed in fight with the security forces. Afghan human rights watchdog Women's United Voice Advisory Group on Peace Policy said that the Taliban's actions in relation to "jihad marriage" should be documented worldwide.

Meanwhile, fighting is raging in Lashkar Gah, one of Afghanistan's largest cities in the Taliban heartland of Helmand province. The government forces, who are surrounded, are hoping to hold onto the capital after the militants' week-long blitz has seen them already seized nine others around Afghanistan.

President Ashraf Ghani is trying to rally a counter-offensive relying on his country's special forces, the militias of warlords and American airpower ahead of the US and Nato withdrawal at the end of the month.

The latest US military intelligence assessment is that Kabul could come under insurgent pressure within 30 days and that if current trends hold, the Taliban could gain full control of the country within a couple of months.