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Taliban seize 2nd provincial capital
Afghan govt admits that the insurgents are present in Sheberghan but denies the claim that the city has fallen.
The Taliban seized the capital of northern Afghanistan’s Jawzjan province on Saturday, a provincial lawmaker said, the second provincial capital to fall to the insurgents in under 24 hours.
The deputy governor of Jawzjan province Qader Malia told AFP he was with government forces who had abandoned Sheberghan city and retreated to the airport on its outskirts, where they were preparing to defend themselves.
He said Sheberghan had “unfortunately fallen”, but the government denied the claims.
Interior ministry spokesman Marwais Stanikzai insisted the insurgents held only parts of the city. “The security forces, backed by reinforcements and the uprising forces, will once again clear the city from the terrorists,” he said in a video message to media.
Sheberghan is particularly strategic because it is the stronghold of US-allied Uzbek warlord Rashid Dostum, whose militias are among those resurrected to aid the Afghan National Defence and Security Forces.
Aides said he was meeting with President Ashraf Ghani on Saturday in an attempt to persuade the country’s leader to fly in reinforcements.
Heavy airstrikes were reported by residents of Sheberghan who also said the Taliban had freed prisoners from the city jail. One resident of Sheberghan contacted by AFP said people were staying behind closed doors, fearful for their future.
On Saturday, the US and British embassies in Kabul repeated a warning to its citizens still there to leave “immediately” as the security situation deteriorated. The US air force continues to aid the Afghan air force’s bombing of Taliban targets in southern Helmand and Kandahar provinces as Afghan security forces try to prevent a Taliban takeover.
In a report to the UN Security Council on Friday, the UN envoy for Afghanistan urged the council to demand the Taliban immediately stop attacking cities in their offensive to take more territory. Deborah Lyons also called on the international community to urge both sides to stop fighting and negotiate to prevent a “catastrophe” in the country.
On Friday, Taliban fighters assassinated Dawa Khan Menapal, the chief of the Afghan government’s press operations for local and foreign media. It came just days after a coordinated attempt was made to kill acting defence chief Bismillah Khan Mohammadi in Kabul.
