Pace of Taliban advance quickens as militants overrun three major cities in a single day

KABUL â€" Taliban fighters overran three major cities in Afghanistan’s north on Sunday, the greatest territorial gains the militants have netted in a single day since the withdrawal of U.S. forces entered its final phase this year.

In nearly simultaneous operations, the Taliban pushed into the center of Kunduz city and the capitals of Sar-e Pol and Takhar provinces. Afghan officials said clashes were continuing in Kunduz, and a major military operation was planned to retake the strategically important city that the militants had besieged for months.

The developments marked a sharp escalation in the speed of Taliban gains across Afghanistan. For months, Taliban fighters focused on taking control of districts and increasing pressure on urban areas, but that changed on Friday when they overran a provincial capital for the first time since the withdrawal of foreign forces. The militants took a second city on Saturday, and by Sunday government-held territory in the north appeared to begin falling quickly.

In Takhar, Afghan officials said government forces conducted a strategic retreat, abandoning the provincial capital before Taliban fighters launched sustained attacks on the city. In Sar-e Pol, a small number of Afghan security forces and government officials fled to a military base on the city’s outskirts.

Afghan forces remained in control of a military base near Kunduz’s airport, but Taliban fighters pushed into the city center, launching sustained attacks on the main government compounds there, according to Ghulam Rabani Rabani, a member of the Kunduz provincial council. Some local officials fled the city center for the military base.

Taliban fighters pushed into Kunduz from the north and closed in on the city prison, according to an Afghan officer in contact with the few government security forces left there. The officer spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to journalists about ongoing operations.

The Taliban quickly overwhelmed the prison guards. They then released prisoners and bolstered their numbers with dozens of inmates who were Taliban fighters, the officer said. The additional Taliban fighters helped the militants launch attacks on the main government compounds in central Kunduz.

Amr al-Din Wali, another provincial council member, said Afghan security forces have “no morale.” Speaking from the base near the airport, the last island of government control in Kunduz, he said waves of intense airstrikes had been launched in and around the city, but he didn’t believe security forces had a plan to retake it.

Clashes were continuing in the capital city of Sar-e Pol province, according to Deputy Gov. Abdul Malik Azimi, who spoke on the phone from a military base on the city’s outskirts. A provincial council member, Sayed Asadullah Danish, said Taliban fighters were in control of the city’s main government compounds.

Taliban fighters overran the capital of the western province of Nimruz on Friday and then on Saturday pushed into Shebergan, the capital of the northwestern province of Jowzjan.

Zabiullah Mujahid, a Taliban spokesman, said the militants were in full control of the important government buildings in both Kunduz and Sar-e Pol and were “chasing away the remaining forces of the enemy.” He repeated a call for Afghan government “officials and security forces to stop fighting,” and pledged that anyone who chose to lay down their arms would “be provided protection.”

As the conflict escalates across the country, the Taliban is increasingly accusing Afghan forces and the United States of indiscriminately using air power that is killing and wounding large numbers of civilians.

Human rights groups are also voicing concerns about a spike in civilians casualties.

For years, the majority of the fighting between the Taliban and Afghan government forces occurred in the country’s rural areas. As the Taliban is now pushing into cities, Deborah Lyons, the U.N. special representative for Afghanistan, has warned that more civilians will be injured or killed.

In testimony to the U.N. Security Council on Friday, Lyons said that in Lashkar Gah â€" one of the most closely contested provincial capitals in the country â€" more than 104 civilians were killed and 403 wounded in a 10-day period. The U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistan reported recently that civilian casualties could reach “unprecedented” levels this year if the war continues on its current trajectory.

“To attack urban areas,” Lyons said, “is to knowingly inflict enormous harm and cause massive civilian casualties.”

Ezzatullah Mehrdad contributed to this report.

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