Afghanistan: Three more Provincial Capitals fall

Sunday – Kunduz, Sar-e-Pol and Taloqan are the latest provincial capitals that have come under Taliban control since Friday. This being their largest single-day gain since the beginning of their offensives against the major cities after they had successfully managed to take control of Afghanistan’s rural areas. In total, they are in control of five major cities, Kunduz being their biggest catch.

The three cities fell within hours and Afghan forces are nowhere in sight, losing ground and civilian support far sooner than anticipated.

With no real strategy in place to fight the Taliban, the government troops just wait in their strongholds for the Taliban to attack and then retreat or flee to nearby areas after the promised reinforcements never arrive.

The Afghan government has claimed their men are trying to retake various key points but any positive result is yet to be seen and with each passing day we see another major city fall and the grip on Kabul tightening.

This exposes how corrupt the Afghan officials have been, to have been given so much money and have no performance nor will to construct a worthy strategy.

Fighting has also been reported in various other major cities in the southern part of Afghanistan, the battles have been going on since a few days now and we might see news coming out from those regions at any time.

The Afghan government is in deep water now as time for them to prove the money given was spent on the forces and the civilians is shrinking by the day and with each advancement.

Afghan forces have over 200,000 active personnel and a military budget over $12 billion (aid), their performance has further been marred by several defeats in recurrent days.

These defeats will decrease their morale and they need leaders who can make decisive strategies with tactics that takeback the ground lost. The Afghan troops need to hear some good news as the current trend might make them more susceptible to losses.

The Taliban who have been fully charged up since the troop withdrawal are now fully motivated and see their goal closer than ever.

Without counter-offensives it will only be a matter of time before the Taliban bring in major reinforcements to Kunduz and make it their regional stronghold.

The civilians living in these major cities who are usually supporters of the government and their respective regional chiefs will have to suffer for being loyal to the government and not the Taliban.

Some will be forgiven after they ask for mercy, the women will be taken away for the fighters, while some of them would be left there but under strict Islamic laws where going outside of their houses would mean abduction or a death sentence, the men would be punished and those willing to fight will be taken in and the children would be taken away to learn the “Afghan” way.

With Kunduz’s fall, the Taliban now control another route to Kabul and a region that borders a neighboring country, shutting trade and imposing taxes at any time they like.

The border is also used to smuggle Afghan opium to central Asia and Europe, now that the Taliban control this route it won’t be long till they take control of the opium smuggling, further boosting their operations.