Afghanistan crisis Highlights: Taliban capture key cities, Ghani says will not allow ‘imposed war’

President Joe Biden authorised on Saturday an additional 1,000 US troops for deployment to Afghanistan, raising to roughly 5,000 the number of US troops to ensure what Biden called an "orderly and safe drawdown" of American and allied personnel.
      
US troops will also help in the evacuation of Afghans who worked with the military during the nearly two-decade war.
    
The last-minute decision to re-insert thousands of US troops into Afghanistan reflected the dire state of security as the Taliban seized control of multiple Afghan cities in a few short days. 
    
The need for more forces also called into question whether Biden would meet his August 31 deadline for fully withdrawing combat forces. (AP)

An Afghan lawmaker says the central province of Daykundi has surrendered to the Taliban without a fight.

Provincial lawmaker Sayed Mohammad Daud Nasiri says that only two gunshots were heard in the provincial capital of Nili before all the provincial installations were surrendered to the insurgents.

The development late on Saturday is the latest in an apparently unstoppable blitz by the Taliban who are now approaching the country's capital, Kabul. (AP) 

The Taliban have captured a large, heavily defended city in northern Afghanistan in a major setback for the government, and the insurgents are approaching the capital less than three weeks before the U.S. hopes to complete its troop withdrawal.

The fall of Mazar-e-Sharif, the country's fourth largest city, which Afghan forces and two powerful former warlords had pledged to defend, hands the insurgents control over all of northern Afghanistan, confining the Western-backed government to the center and east.

Abas Ebrahimzada, a lawmaker from the Balkh province where the city is located, said the national army surrendered first, which prompted pro-government militias and other forces to lose morale and give up in the face of a Taliban onslaught launched earlier Saturday. (AP)

A fresh contingent of Marines arrived in Kabul on Saturday as part of a 3,000-troop force intended to secure an airlift of U.S. Embassy personnel and Afghan allies as Taliban insurgents approach the outskirts of the capital.

The last-minute decision to re-insert thousands of U.S. troops into Afghanistan reflects the dire state of security and calls into question whether President Joe Biden will meet his Aug. 31 deadline for fully withdrawing combat forces. (AP)

An Afghan lawmaker said the city of Mazar-e-Sharif, the capital of Balkh province, has fallen to the Taliban after the insurgents launched a major assault there, news agency AP reported.

As a Taliban offensive encircles the Afghan capital, there's increasingly only one way out for those fleeing the war, and only one way in for US troops sent to protect American diplomats still on the ground: Kabul's international airport.

A steady stream of people makes its way first to ticket sale counters set up on the parking lot outside the terminal. They push their luggage, load carts with carpets, television sets and mementos, stuff clothes inside purses to make their weight limit as they slowly inch forward. The lucky ones, those who managed to get a ticket for a flight out to anywhere, then wait more than three hours to make it inside the terminal, bidding tearful goodbyes to loved ones they are leaving behind. As the Taliban draw closer, the lines and the panic only grow. --AP

Emphasising that international mediators can play a significant role in Afghanistan, Russia has said that it is interested in involving India and Iran to bring peace in the war-ravaged country. India, a major stakeholder in ensuring peace and stability in Afghanistan, was not invited to the 'extended Troika' meeting held in Qatar on August 11. Talks under the format had earlier taken place on March 18 and April 30.

After holding the crucial meeting on the situation in Afghanistan that was attended by the US, Pakistan, Russia and China, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told media on Friday that Russia supports the political settlement in Afghanistan based on the decisions of the UN Security Council and regrets that the Taliban is attempting to resolve the situation in the country by using force. He said that Russia supports the Afghan settlement happening with the participation of all political, ethnic, confessional forces of the country. --PTI

The SGPC on Saturday urged the Centre to ensure the safety of Sikhs living in war-torn Afghanistan and make unconditional arrangements for those Sikhs willing to return to India. The apex gurdwara body also said that the settlement of such Sikhs returning to the country will be arranged by it.

Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) chief Bibi Jagir Kaur said she has written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar in this regard. She urged the Centre to take immediate steps for the security and safety of the Sikhs living in Afghanistan and to make suitable arrangements for those wishing to come to India. --PTI

Qatar said it had urged the Taliban to cease fire and pull back their offensive in Afghanistan during a meeting between the Qatari foreign minister and a top representative of the Afghan insurgents in Doha on Saturday. 

Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani met the head of the Taliban's political bureau, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, to follow up on peace talks hosted by the Gulf country, the Qatari foreign ministry said in a statement on its website. "The foreign minister urged the Taliban at the meeting to let up the escalation and to cease fire," it said. --Reuters

Pakistan on Saturday reopened the Chaman-Spin Boldak border crossing with Afghanistan, after two rounds of successful negotiations with the Taliban on repatriating stranded individuals, amidst rapid territorial gains by the militant group in the war-ravaged neighbouring country.

In a blitz assault on Thursday and Friday, the Taliban gained control of Afghanistan's main cities Herat and Kandahar, encircling national capital Kabul. The insurgents are believed to control two-thirds of the country's territory and over half of the 34 provincial capitals. --PTI

Amid a deteriorating security situation in Afghanistan, the Jawaharlal Nehru University on Saturday said it has received requests from some Afghan students to facilitate their return to the campus and has assured them that the matter is being looked into.

This comes after the Jawaharlal Nehru University Students' Union (JNUSU) had written to the varsity's vice-chancellor on Friday, asking him to grant Afghan students the necessary permissions for their visa, along with hostel accommodation on an urgent basis and facilitate their return in view of the deteriorating security situation in Afghanistan. --PTI

An Afghan lawmaker says the Taliban have captured the capital of the Paktika province bordering Pakistan. Khalid Asad, a lawmaker from the eastern province, says the local capital, Sharana, fell to the insurgents on Saturday. The Taliban have rapidly advanced across northern, western and southern Afghanistan in recent weeks and now control most of the country's provincial capitals. The Taliban are currently battling government forces some 11 kilometers (7 miles) south of the capital, Kabul. Their lightning advance comes less than three weeks before the U.S. plans to withdraw the last of its forces. --AP

The Taliban seized a province just south of Afghanistan's capital and launched a multi-pronged assault early Saturday on a major city in the north defended by powerful former warlords, Afghan officials said. The insurgents have captured much of northern, western and southern Afghanistan in a breakneck offensive less than three weeks before the United States is set to withdraw its last troops, raising fears of a full militant takeover or another Afghan civil war. --AP

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani said on Saturday he was consulting with local leaders and international partners on the situation in the country, as the Taliban continues its rapid advance. The Taliban pushed closer to Kabul on Saturday, capturing a key city near Afghanistan's capital as American troops flew in to help evacuate embassy personnel and other civilians. --Reuters

In his first televised address to the nation since Taliban advance, Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani Saturday said he will not allow "the imposed war" on Afghans to bring further killings, loss of the gains of past 20 years, destruction of public property and continued instability, reported TOLOnews. "I assure you that as your president my focus is to prevent further instability, violence and displacement of the people," TOLOnews quoted Ghani as saying.

The wheel has turned almost full circle in Afghanistan. The Taliban first stormed to power in 1996, with an open demonstration of medieval cruelty and a barbaric transition to the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. Twenty-five years later, and two decades after they were ousted from their seat in Kabul by the US and other NATO forces, their steady march through the country as they capture one strategic city after another indicates that their return to Kabul may not be far away. According to the latest reports, the militants control two-thirds of the Afghan land mass, including in the non-Pashtun north where their advance was stalled in the 1990s by the Northern Alliance. There is no Northern Alliance this time. The Afghan National Defence and Security Forces — including a 1,80,000 strong Afghan National Army, and a police force with 1,50,000 personnel, besides an air force and other security wings — trained by the US military, have proved unequal to the task of holding on to territory and containing the Taliban. (Read more here)

The Taliban on Saturday launched a multi-pronged assault on Mazar-e-Sharif, a major city in the north defended by powerful former warlords, Afghan officials said.

In another major gain for the insurgents, Taliban captured Logar province, situated less than 80 kilometres south of Afghanistan’s capital, Kabul, new agency AP has said.  Homa Ahmadi, a lawmaker from Logar said that the Taliban controlled the entire province, including its capital, and reached a district in the neighbouring Kabul province on Saturday.

The Taliban have also captured much of northern, western and southern Afghanistan less than three weeks before the United States is set to withdraw its last troops.

The Taliban seized a radio station in Kandahar and took to the airwaves Saturday after capturing much of southern Afghanistan in a rapid offensive that has raised fears of a full takeover less than three weeks before the US is set to withdraw its last troops. The Taliban have captured much of northern, western and southern Afghanistan in recent weeks, leaving the Western-backed government in control of a smattering of provinces in the centre and east, as well as the capital, Kabul, and the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif.

The Taliban released a video in which an unnamed insurgent announced the takeover of the city's main radio station, which has been renamed the Voice of Sharia, or Islamic law. He said all employees were present and would broadcast news, political analysis and recitations of the Quran, the Islamic holy book. It appears the station will no longer play music

The United Nations chief urged the Taliban on Friday to immediately halt its offensive across Afghanistan and negotiate in good faith to avert a prolonged civil war.

The first forces of a Marine battalion arrived in Kabul at week's end to stand guard as the US speeds up evacuation flights for some American diplomats and thousands of Afghans, spurred by a lightning Taliban offensive that increasingly is isolating Afghanistan's capital.

Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said "elements" of a battalion were now in Kabul, the vanguard of three Marine and Army battalions that the US was sending to the city by the end of the weekend to help more Americans and their Afghan colleagues get out quickly.

Stranded Afghanis crossing the border between Pakistan Afghanistan, in Chaman, Pakistan, Friday, Aug. 13, 2021. (Picture by AP)

The U.N. refugee agency says nearly 250,000 Afghans have fled their homes since the end of May amid fears the Taliban would reimpose their strict and ruthless interpretation of Islam, all but eliminating women’s rights. Eighty percent of those displaced are women and children.

The fundamentalist group ruled the country for five years until the 2001 U.S.-led invasion. During that time, it forbade girls an education and women the right to work, and refused even to let them travel outside their homes without a male relative to accompany them. The Taliban also carried out public executions, chopped off the hands of thieves and stoned women accused of adultery. (With AP)

It was early evening and Zahra, her mother and three sisters were on their way to dinner at another sister’s home when they saw people running and heard gunshots on the street.
“The Taliban are here!” people screamed. In just a few minutes, everything changed for the 26-year-old resident of Herat, Afghanistan’s third-largest city.

Zahra grew up in a mostly Taliban-free Afghanistan, where women dared to dream of careers and girls got an education. For the past five years, she has been working with local nonprofit organisations to raise awareness for women and press for gender equality. (Read the full story here)

Canada will build on its earlier special immigration programme to welcome over 20,000 vulnerable Afghan refugees. Our efforts will focus on those who are particularly vulnerable, including women leaders: Marco Mendicino, Canadian Minister of Immigration, Refugees & Citizenship

Canada will build on its earlier special immigration programme to welcome over 20,000 vulnerable Afghan refugees. Our efforts will focus on those who are particularly vulnerable, including women leaders: Marco Mendicino, Canadian Minister of Immigration, Refugees & Citizenship pic.twitter.com/0CIJzuernA

— ANI (@ANI) August 13, 2021

The United Nations chief urged the Taliban on Friday to immediately halt its offensive across Afghanistan and negotiate “in good faith” to avert a prolonged civil war.

In his first and strongest appeal to the Islamic militant group, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he was “deeply disturbed by early indications that the Taliban are imposing severe restrictions in the areas under their control, particularly targeting women and journalists.” (AP)

The Taliban completed their sweep of Afghanistan's south on Friday, taking four more provincial capitals in a lightning offensive that brought them closer to Kabul just weeks before the U.S. is set to officially end its two-decade war.
    
In the last 24 hours, the country's second- and third-largest cities Herat in the west and Kandahar in the south have fallen to the insurgents, as has the capital of the southern province of Helmand, where American, British and NATO forces fought some of the bloodiest battles of the conflict. (AP)

Pakistan's national security adviser is urging Afghan leaders to try to quickly reach a politically negotiated settlement with the Taliban to avoid further violence in Afghanistan.
      
The adviser, Moeed Yusuf, made the appeal while speaking to reporters in the Pakistani capital of Islamabad on Friday. He stressed that the fall of city after city in neighbouring Afghanistan underscores the need to expedite the peace process.
    
Pakistan has held considerable influence over the Taliban and has in the past succeeded in pressuring them to the negotiating table. Kabul has criticised Islamabad for offering shelter to Taliban leaders and has claimed the neighbouring country also provides a haven for Taliban fighters. (AP)

Spain's defence ministry said Friday it would evacuate Afghan translators who have worked with Spanish forces in Afghanistan 'as soon as possible'.The ministry said in an emailed statement to media that it had identified translators who felt threatened by remaining in the country and was working with the Interior and Foreign Ministries to bring them to Spain in the coming days.

India, Germany, Qatar, Turkey and several other nations have reaffirmed to not recognise any government in Afghanistan that is imposed through the use of military force and called for an immediate end to violence and attacks in the war-torn country.

A statement issued by Qatar on Friday following two separate meetings on Afghanistan in Doha said the participating countries agreed that the Afghan peace process needs to be accelerated as a matter of "great urgency".

It said the participants urged the Taliban and the Afghan government to build trust and accelerate efforts to reach a political settlement and comprehensive ceasefire as quickly as possible. (PTI)

Meanwhile, Afghan First Vice-President Amrullah Saleh said he was proud of the country's armed forces. "It was decided with conviction and resolve that we stand firm against Taliban terrorists and do everything to strengthen the national resistance by all means and ways. period," he said in a tweet about a national security meeting chaired by President Ashraf Ghani. 

In today's meeting on national security chaired by Prz @ashrafghani it was decided with conviction & resolve that WE STAND FIRM AGAINST TALIBAN TERRORISTS & DO EVERTYHING TO STREGNTHEN THE NATIONAL RESISTANCE BY ALL MEANS AND WAYS. PERIOD. We are proud of our ANDSF.

— Amrullah Saleh (@AmrullahSaleh2) August 13, 2021

Denmark and Norway are closing their embassies in Kabul and evacuating their staff as the security situation worsens in Afghanistan. (Reuters)

NATO envoys are meeting in Brussels to discuss developments in Afghanistan amid a rapidly deteriorating security situation in the wake of the relentless Taliban offensive there.

According to AP, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg and 30 national ambassadors were taking part in the meeting in Brussels. “NATO is monitoring the security situation very closely. We continue to coordinate with the Afghan authorities and the rest of the international community,” a NATO official who spoke on condition of anonymity said.

NATO ambassadors are meeting on Friday to discuss the rapidly deteriorating security situation in Afghanistan and to coordinate national measures to reduce embassy staff in Kabul, a security source told Reuters. The Western alliance has ended military operations in Afghanistan after almost two decades and withdrawn most troops from the country but still serves as a forum to coordinate national measures there.

An Afghan official says the Taliban have captured the provincial capital of the western province of Ghor. The head of the provincial council says the city of Feroz Koh fell to the insurgents on Friday. (AP)

Here are the top developments from Afghanistan

*Taliban capture Kandahar, Herat, Lashkar Gah

*Insurgents now control 17 of the country’s 34 provincial capitals 

*US, Britain to send troops to get staff out

*UN food agency warns of "humanitarian catastrophe"

*Key anti-Taliban commander Mohammad Ismail Khan captured in Herat

*Dutch govt says it may have to close Kabul embassy, will bring back some Afghan staff

Pakistani border and security personnel clashed with hundreds of Afghans wanting to cross into Afghanistan from a key border crossing in Chaman closed by Taliban in the restive Balochistan province. Hundreds of Afghans had gathered on the Pakistan side of the Chaman border wanting to cross over but the Taliban who have captured the Spin Boldak area are not allowing anyone to cross until some of their demands were met by the Pakistani authorities, sources said.

The Taliban militants have closed the Chaman-Spin Boldak crossing since last week, demanding that the Pakistani authorities allow visa-free travel for Afghans. The Taliban want the Pakistani authorities to allow those Afghans to cross the border who have an Afghan ID card or a Pakistani-issued refugee registration card. (PTI)

Latest visuals from Afghanistan 

Two lawmakers from Afghanistan's southern Uruzgan province say local officials have surrendered the provincial capital to the rapidly advancing Taliban. According to AP, Bismillah Jan Mohammad and Qudratullah Rahimi confirmed the surrender on Friday. Mohammad says the governor is en route to the airport to depart for Kabul. 

The United Nations refugee agency called on Afghanistan's neighbours to keep borders open as Taliban insurgent advances heightened the country's crisis. "An inability to seek safety may risk innumerable civilian lives. UNHCR stands ready to help national authorities scale up humanitarian responses as needed," a spokesperson for the agency said during a briefing in Geneva.

UN agencies on Friday warned of a humanitarian catastrophe in Afghanistan as Taliban advances drive tens of thousands of people from their homes amid spreading hunger. "We fear the worst is yet to come and the larger tide of hunger is fast approaching... The situation has all the hallmarks of a humanitarian catastrophe," the World Food Programme's Thomson Phiri was quoted as saying by Reuters.

More than 2,50,000 people have been forced from their homes since May, 80 per cent of them women and children, a UN refugee agency official to the news agency. Many reported extortion by armed groups on the way and having to dodge improvised explosive devices along major roads.

Taliban insurgents detained veteran militia commander Mohammad Ismail Khan on Friday after they seized the western city of Herat, a provincial council member told Reuters. 

Khan has been leading fighters against the Taliban in recent weeks, was handed over to the insurgents along with the provincial governor and security officials under a pact. 

Khan is one of Afghanistan's most prominent warlords. Known as the Lion of Herat, he battled Soviet occupiers in the 1980s and was a key member of the Northern Alliance whose US-backed forces toppled the Taliban in 2001. Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid confirmed that Khan had been detained.

Bill Roggio, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said the Afghan army has rotted from within due to corruption and mismanagement, leaving troops in the field poorly equipped and with little motivation to fight. The Taliban, meanwhile, have spent a decade taking control of large swaths of the countryside.

“Whatever forces are left or remaining that are in the Kabul area and the provinces around them, they’re going to be used for the defense of Kabul,” Roggio told AP. “Unless something dramatically changes, and I don’t see how that’s possible, these provinces (that have fallen) will remain under Taliban control."

According to AP, peace talks in Qatar remain stalled, though diplomats are still meeting, as the US, European and Asian nations warned that any government established by force would be rejected.

“We demand an immediate end to attacks against cities, urge a political settlement, and warn that a government-imposed by force will be a pariah state,” Zalmay Khalilzad, the US envoy to the talks said. However, the Taliban advance continues.

As per TOLO news sources, all government officials, including governor, police chief, head of NDS office, ex-mujahedeen leader Mohammad Ismail Khan, deputy minister of interior for security, and the 207 Zafar Corps commander have surrendered after Herat fell to the Taliban.

Afghanistan | Sources said all govt officials, including governor, police chief, head of NDS office, ex-mujahedeen leader Mohammad Ismail Khan, deputy minister of interior for security, and the 207 Zafar Corps commander have surrendered after Herat fell to Taliban: TOLOnews

— ANI (@ANI) August 13, 2021

The Taliban captured another three provincial capitals in southern Afghanistan on Friday, the Associated Press reported. 

Atta Jan Haqbayan, the provincial council chief in Zabul province, said the local capital of Qalat fell to the Taliban and that officials are in a nearby army camp preparing to leave. Two lawmakers from Afghanistan’s southern Uruzgan province also said local officials have surrendered the provincial capital, Tirin Kot, to the rapidly advancing Taliban. 

The insurgents have taken more than a dozen provincial capitals in recent days and now control more than two-thirds of the country just weeks before the US plans to withdraw its last troops.

An Afghan official says the Taliban have captured Lashkar Gah, the capital of the southern province of Helmand.

US and allied forces fought some of the bloodiest battles of the nearly two-decade Afghan war in Helmand.

The insurgents on Friday held more than a dozen provincial capitals in recent days and now control more than two-thirds of the country just weeks before the U.S. plans to withdraw its last troops. (AP)

Twelve nations, including the US, India and China, along with representatives of the UN and EU have decided that they would not recognise any government in Afghanistan that seeks to take control through the barrel of a gun, the State Department has said, amid the continued Taliban offensive across the war-torn country.

Representatives from the United States and Qatar, the UN, China, Uzbekistan, Pakistan, the UK, the EU, Germany, India, Norway, Tajikistan, Turkey and Turkmenistan joined a regional conclave on Thursday to discuss ways to contain the escalating security situation in Afghanistan. The conclave was hosted by Qatar.

A statement issued by Qatar foreign ministry states, "The participants in the international meeting on Afghanistan in Doha agreed on the necessity of accelerating the peace process as a very urgent and essential issue for negotiating concrete proposals from both sides."

Referring to the Afghan government and Taliban, the statement added, "the meeting today urged the two parties to take steps to build confidence and accelerate efforts to reach a political settlement and a comprehensive ceasefire as soon as possible, and called for an immediate cessation of violence and attacks in and on the capitals of other governorates and cities". (PTI)

2/2 We demand an immediate end to attacks against cities, urge a political settlement, and warn that a government imposed by force will be a pariah state.

— U.S. Special Representative Zalmay Khalilzad (@US4AfghanPeace) August 13, 2021

Iran's Foreign Ministry on Friday urged the Taliban to ensure the safety of its diplomats and staff at its consulate in the western Afghan city of Herat, which the Taliban has said it has captured.

"Considering [the] Taliban's dominance over the city of Herat, we draw their serious attention to ensuring the complete safety and health of diplomats and diplomatic facilities," Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said on Twitter. (Reuters)

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— Saeed Khatibzadeh (@SKhatibzadeh) August 13, 2021

Afghanistan is spiralling into a failed state and a civil war in which militant groups such as al Qaeda will thrive and likely pose a threat again to the West, Britain's defence minister Ben Wallace said on Friday.

Britain could return to Afghanistan if the country starts hosting al Qaeda in a way that threatens the West, Wallace added. (Reuters)

Afghanistan is tipping towards civil war and the West must understand that the Taliban is not a single entity but a title for a myriad of competing interests, Britain's defence minister said on Friday.

"Britain found that out in the 1830s, that it is a country led by warlords and led by different provinces and tribes, and you end up, if you're not very careful in a civil war, and I think we are heading towards a civil war," Defence Secretary Ben Wallace told the BBC.

"The Taliban is not entirely a single entity, they break down underneath the title into all sorts of different interests," Wallace said. (Reuters)

Herat, Afghanistan's third-largest city, has mostly been taken over by Taliban insurgents, a provincial official told Reuters on Friday.

The official, Ghulam Habib Hashimo, said government forces were only in control of the airport and an army camp in the city of about 600,000 people, which is close to the border with Iran. "Families have either left or are hiding in their houses," he added. (Reuters)

Afghanistan's rapidly-advancing Taliban insurgents entered a western provincial capital, an official said Friday, hours after they captured the country's second and third largest cities in a lightning advance just weeks before America is set to end its longest war.

The seizure of Kandahar and Herat marks the biggest prizes yet for the Taliban, who have taken 12 of Afghanistan's 34 provincial capitals as part of a week-long blitz.

While Kabul itself isn't directly under threat yet, the losses and the battles elsewhere further tighten the grip of a resurgent Taliban, who are estimated to now hold over two-thirds of the country and continue to press their offensive.

Fazel Haq Ehsan, chief of the provincial council in the western Ghor province, said Friday that the Taliban had entered Feroz Koh, the provincial capital, and that there was fighting inside the city. He was on the outskirts of town and was unable to immediately provide more details.

The Taliban meanwhile claimed to have captured Qala-e Naw, the capital of the western Badghis province. There was no official confirmation. (PTI)

The US is sending 3000 marines and soldiers along with 4000 troops to Afghanistan to evacuate American embassy and US citizens in Kabul. New York Times reported.

As Taliban captured the second-largest city in Afghanistan and continue to expand their territory, Joe Biden plans to move Americans out sooner. American Embassy recently urged the citizens to “leave Afghanistan immediately using available commercial flight options".

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is following with deep concern the developments in Afghanistan and hopes that the discussions between the Afghan government and the Taliban in Doha will restore the pathway to a negotiated settlement to the conflict, his spokesman has said. The Taliban is rapidly advancing across Afghanistan and taking control over key provincial capitals. Reports say that the militant group has captured Herat and Kandahar, the country's second and third largest cities after Kabul, and a strategic provincial capital on Thursday.

It comes just weeks before the end of the American military mission in Afghanistan. The US Embassy in Afghanistan issued a security alert Thursday, urging Americans to "leave Afghanistan immediately using available commercial flight options". "I can tell you that the Secretary-General is following, with deep concern, developments in Afghanistan, including the latest fighting in Herat and Kandahar," Stephane Dujarric, Spokesman for the Secretary-General, said at the daily press briefing on Thursday. "We are particularly concerned about the shift of fighting to urban areas, where the potential for civilian harm is even greater," he said. (PTI)

The US secretaries of state and defense spoke to Afghan President Ashraf Ghani on Thursday and told him the United States "remains invested in the security and stability of Afghanistan" in the face of Taliban violence, the State Department said.Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told Ghani Washington was reducing its civilian footprint in Kabul given the "evolving security situation" and would increase the tempo of Special Immigration Visa flights for Afghans who helped the U.S. effort in the country, the statement said.They also said the United States remains committed to maintaining a strong diplomatic and security relationship with the Afghan government, it said. (Reuters)

A Taliban spokesman said on Thursday to Al Jazeera television that the swift fall of big cities indicates Afghans welcome the group.He added, "we will not close the door to the political track."Envoys from the United States, China and other states on Thursday called for an accelerated peace process for Afghanistan as a "matter of great urgency" and for an immediate halt to attacks on provincial capitals and cities in Afghanistan.

The UN Security Council is discussing a draft statement that would condemn Taliban attacks on cities and towns causing high civilian casualties and threaten sanctions for abuses and acts that risk Afghanistan's peace and stability, diplomats said on Thursday. The formal statement, drafted by Estonia and Norway, has to be agreed by consensus by the 15-member body.

The text also "strongly affirms that the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan is not recognized at the United Nations and declares that it does not and will not support the establishment of any government in Afghanistan imposed through military force or restoration of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. "The UN special envoy for Afghanistan, Deborah Lyons, last week questioned the Taliban's commitment to a political settlement, telling the Security Council the war has entered a "deadlier and more destructive phase."

"The Security Council condemns in the strongest terms possible the armed attacks by Taliban forces on cities and towns across Afghanistan, resulting in high numbers of civilian casualties," the draft statement reads. (Reuters)