The Taliban armed group has captured the provincial capitals, Qalat, Terenkot, Pul-e Alam, Feruz Koh, Qala-e Naw and Lashkar Gah, hours after capturing Herat and Kandahar cities.
It so far has control over 18 provincial capitals across Afghanistan.
Washington has announced plans to evacuate its nationals in Kabul, a symbolic and shambolic end of the US presence after nearly two decades of conflict.
Similarly, the United Kingdom’s defence minister commented that Afghanistan is tipping towards civil war and the West must understand that the Taliban is not a single entity but a title for a myriad of competing interests.
Even though most other NATO members have not as vocally criticized the deteriorating situation in Afghanistan, most countries have reduced staff and are evacuating citizens from Afghanistan.
Denmark has closed its embassy in Kabul for now because of the worsening security situation in Afghanistan, and evacuating its staff, Foreign Minister Jeppe Kofod has said.
NATO ambassadors are meeting to discuss the rapidly deteriorating security situation in Afghanistan and to coordinate national measures to reduce embassy staff in Kabul, a security source has told Reuters news agency.
The Western alliance has ended military operations in Afghanistan after almost 20 years and withdrawn most troops from the country but still serves as a forum to coordinate national measures there.
Qalat, the capital of Zabul province in Afghanistan’s south, becomes the 18th city taken over by the Taliban, says Atta Jan Haqbayan, the provincial council chief in Zabul province.
He also says officials are in a nearby army camp preparing to leave.
Why has the Afghan army fallen to the Taliban offensive?
Corruption, the lack of a will to fight, and the vacuum created by the US exit likely all played a part in the Afghan military’s ultimate demise.
For years, the US government issued reports detailing the vast amounts of corruption within the Afghan security forces.
Commanders routinely pocketed money meant for their troops, sold weapons on the black market, and lied about the number of soldiers in their ranks.
The Afghan forces were also entirely dependent on US air power — from logistics to strikes, along with maintenance.
And to make matters all the worse, the security forces never had much in the way of effective leadership.
They were micromanaged by civilians in the presidential palace with little military experience, or ignored by ageing generals who appeared more involved in petty political fights than the larger war at hand.
The US-trained commando units were the hope, but in the end they were not enough to shoulder the entire fight.
The Taliban have the upper hand across the board.
The government now controls just three major cities, and is unlikely to have the logistical manpower left to marshal a successful defence of the capital.
The Taliban are moving rapidly towards Kabul with reports suggesting their fighters are making progress on the northern and southern flanks of the capital.
The US and international community are most likely piling pressure on the Taliban and Afghan government to reach some kind of deal.
