Taliban Captures Lashkar Gah and Kandahar Cities in Afghanistan; US Sends Troops to Evacuate Citizens

Kabul: Taliban has claimed to have capsized Lashkar Gah and the second largest city of Afghanistan, Kandahar that would perpetuate terror close to the capital and other provinces. 

Taliban has seemingly captured several provinces of Afghanistan in an attempt to gain power and reboot its economy. 

“Kandahar is completely conquered. The Mujahideen reached Martyrs’ Square in the city,” a Taliban spokesman tweeted on an officially recognised account – a claim backed by a resident, who told AFP government forces appeared to have withdrawn en masse to a military facility outside the city.

Earlier, the Pentagon had informed deploying around 3000 troops to Afghanistan immediately to evacuate US embassy employees securely as the insurgency uproared. 

“The first movement will consist of three infantry battalions that are currently in the Central Command area of responsibility. They will move to the Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul within the next 24 to 48 hours,” said Defense Department spokesman John Kirby. The United Kingdom has also announced plans to deploy 600 troops to airlift its embassy staff.

After being under siege for weeks, government forces today pulled out of Herat – an ancient silk road city near the Iranian border – and retreated to a district army barracks.

The government has effectively lost most of north, south and west Afghanistan in the past week, and is left holding the capital and a dwindling number of contested cities also dangerously at risk.