The Taliban seized two more Afghan cities on Tuesday, as tens of thousands of people fled their homes in the north for the safety of the capital. Reports say the Taliban have now taken more than a quarter of Afghanistan's provincial capitals in less than a week, with most of them in the northen part of the country.
Hardline forces won control of Farah city, and Pul-e-Khumri in Baghlan, within hours of each other on Tuesday. The Taliban has also captured Faizabad, making it the ninth city to be overrun since Friday.
With the insurgents now setting their sights on Mazar-i-Sharif, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani flew to the city to rally his beleaguered forces on Wednesday.
But despite the bloodshed over the past few days, US President Joe Biden is not planning to delay his deadline to withdraw all American troops by August 31. Instead, he urged Afghan leaders to “come together" and “fight for themselves."
"Afghan leaders have to come together. We lost thousands, lost (to) death and injury, thousands of American personnel. They've got to fight for themselves, fight for their nation," said the US President.
The fall of Mazar-i-Sharif would signal the total collapse of government control in the traditionally anti-Taliban north. Afghan govt forces are also battling the hardliners in Kandahar and Helmand, the two southern Pashto-speaking provinces from where the Taliban draw their strength.
Meanwhile, Washington’s special envoy Zalmay Khalilzad is in Qatar to try and convince the Taliban to accept a ceasefire.