After Kandahar, Taliban captures Lashkar Gah

New Delhi, Aug 13: After Kandahar, the Taliban have captured the key southern city of Lashkar Gah, a senior Afghan security source told AFP on Friday, a claim by the insurgents.

Military and government officials had evacuated the city after striking a deal with the militants, the security source told AFP.

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.

Thousands of people have fled their homes amid fears the Taliban will again impose a brutal, repressive government, all but eliminating women's rights and conducting public amputations, stonings and executions. Peace talks in Qatar remain stalled, though diplomats met throughout the day.

The latest U.S. military intelligence assessment suggests 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 few months. The Afghan government may eventually be forced to pull back to defend the capital and just a few other cities in the coming days if the Taliban keeps up its momentum.

The onslaught represents a stunning collapse of Afghan forces and renews questions about where the over $830 billion spent by the U.S. Defense Department on fighting, training those troops, and reconstruction efforts went - especially as Taliban fighters ride on American-made Humvees and pickup trucks with M-16s slung across their shoulders.

Afghan security forces and the government have not responded to repeated questions from journalists over the days of fighting, instead issuing video communiques that downplay the Taliban advance.

Herat had been under militant attack for two weeks, with one wave blunted by the arrival of warlord Ismail Khan and his forces. But on Thursday afternoon, Taliban fighters broke through the city's defensive lines and later said they were in control.

Afghan lawmaker Semin Barekzai also acknowledged the city's fall, saying that some officials there had escaped. Witnesses described seeing once-detained Taliban fighters at Herat's prison now freely moving on the streets.

with PTI inputs