Daily US Times: The Taliban has claimed the capture of Kandahar, Afghanistan’s second largest city, in what would be a major win for the militants.
Kandahar was once the Taliban’s stronghold and is strategically important as a leading trade hub.
On Thursday, several cities fell in the hands of Taliban in the most dramatic string of victories yet.
The US said it is sending nearly 3,000 troops back into Afghanistan to securely evacuate the staff from the American embassy.
The US said it was sending troops to the Kabul airport to help evacuate a “significant” number of staff from the American embassy on special flights.
The UK also deploying about 600 troops in the same reason. The country said it is deploying the troops on a short-term basis to provide support to British nationals leaving the country.
The number of staff working in Kabul’s British embassy has been reduced to a core team.
The Taliban has moved quickly, seizing new territories everyday as US and other foreign forces withdraw after 20 years of military operations.
Within hours of each other on Thursday, some of the most important cities of Afghanistan were captured – Qala-I-Naw, Herat and Ghazni came under Taliban control.
A Taliban spokesman also announced that “Kandahar is completely conquered”, but this hasn’t been confirmed.
The southern city of Lashkar Gah, the capital of Helmand province, has also been fallen to Taliban, although this has also not been confirmed.
You may read: Taliban take 10th provincial capital in Afghanistan as Ghazni falls
