Taliban capture Afghan government’s last northern stronghold

Afghanistan’s fourth-largest city and the government’s last northern stronghold fell to the Taliban on Saturday, multiple news outlets reported.

Afzal Hadid, head of the Balkh provincial council, confirmed that Mazar-i-Sharif had been captured and said all security forces had left the major city, Reuters reported.

“The Taliban have taken control of Mazar-i-Sharif,” Hadid said, according to the outlet.

Pro-Afghan militias and others signaled they were giving up after the province’s army had surrendered, Balkh lawmaker Abas Ebrahimzada said, according to The Associated Press.

The news came after the Taliban had already picked up the second- and third-largest cities in the country, Herat and Kandahar, following the United States’s steady troop withdrawal.

Of the country’s 34 provinces, the insurgent group currently controls 21 of them, the AP noted.

Recent gains have included the entire province of Logar and the provincial capitals of Paktika and Faryab. The Paktia provincial capital, Gardez, had not completely fallen to the Taliban yet, according to a lawmaker in the region.

But she said that most of the city had been overtaken, and the insurgent group claims it has captured it, according to the AP.

The rapidly deteriorating situation in Afghanistan prompted the Biden administration to announce Thursday it would deploy troops to the country’s capital of Kabul this weekend to help evacuate embassy staff.

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani appealed to the international community for help during a televised speech on Saturday, and said that discussions were already underway.

“We have started consultations, inside the government with elders and political leaders, representatives of different levels of the community as well as our international allies,” he said, according to the AP.

“The consultations are happening at great speed and the results will soon be shared with you dear countrymen,” he added.

Officials are concerned that the fall of the country’s capital is imminent, and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has urged the U.S. to start conducting airstrikes to halt the Taliban’s offensive.

Updated 2:35 p.m.