KABUL: The Taliban continue to advance in Afghanistan, taking the sixth provincial capital, Aibak.
The Taliban also seized Aibak, Afghanistan’s sixth provincial capital, on Monday, according to the details. The deputy governor of Samangan province and a Taliban spokesperson confirmed Aibak’s capture.
The sixth provincial capital has been captured by the Afghan Taliban in less than a week, Samangan’s Sifatullah Samangani told AFP, adding that the Taliban had taken full control of the province.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid tweeted that Aibak, the capital of Samangan, had also escaped the hands of the Afghan government and was now completely under the control of the Taliban.
Fighting continues with militants over the return of Afghan forces to southern cities after the Taliban seized six provincial capitals in four days, and the Afghan Defense Ministry claimed on Monday that clashes had occurred in Kandahar and Helmand during the last 24 hours. Hundreds of Taliban fighters have been killed or injured during the war.
Interior Ministry spokesman Mirwais Stanekzai said the Taliban had suffered heavy losses and the security situation was improving. It should be noted that in May this year, when the coalition forces began the last phase of withdrawal from Afghanistan, long-standing tensions here have risen dramatically.