Cartoon by Marian Kamensky

Fear Sets in as Taliban Seize Former Bastions of Resistance

The New York Times: The families flooded out of northern Afghanistan by the thousands, standing for hours in overcrowded buses and cramming into taxis to escape the Taliban’s swift advance.

By Monday morning, many had arrived at a makeshift shelter in Kabul, the country’s capital. They huddled together, recounting how they had watched bombs ravage their neighborhoods while running battles consumed the streets outside.

The Taliban’s relentless march across northern Afghanistan has sent panic rippling across the country, as Afghans watched a region that was once the heart of resistance to the southern Taliban insurgency collapse at a terrifying pace. In just four days, the insurgents have seized five provincial capitals across the north and one in the southwest, and they continue to press on in their brutal offensive.

The Taliban’s breakthrough victories have further stoked fears that the insurgents could envelop Kabul, and have shattered many Afghans’ last hopes that government forces could somehow reverse the onslaught. With the Taliban encroaching on Kabul — a bastion of government control amid the insurgents’ onslaught — many fear that no corner of the country will be spared.

“The country is going back to the 1990s,” said Noor Agha, 26, who fled to Kabul from Kunduz on Sunday. “We’re in another civil war now.”

On Monday, the Taliban seized another northern capital, Aybak, the capital of Samangan Province, after brief clashes with government troops. In the neighboring province, despite pledges to begin operations to retake Kunduz, Afghan troops still reeling from the weekend’s assault had not carried out any form of a counterattack on the city by nightfall. And security forces evacuated from another northern province, Sar-i-Pul, effectively ceding it to the Taliban who had seized its capital on Sunday.

Yet, amid all the defeat, the administration of President Ashraf Ghani refused to acknowledge the falling capitals. Instead, the central government continued to promote its official talking points that emphasized Taliban deaths and the strength of the Afghan security forces. A spokesman for the Ministry of Defense tweeted Monday that Afghan security forces had repelled Taliban fighters from the capital of another northern province, Baghlan, and other parts of the region. But the message seemed to do little to reassure a panicked public.

“We cannot even trust the government to defend us now,” Mr. Agha said. “If I don’t pick something up,” he added, referring to a weapon, “what will happen to our country?” >>>