Islamabad: Taliban on Friday seized the city of Zaranj, the capital of Western Province Afghanistan Nimroz which borders Iran, making it the first provincial capital has fallen into a guerrilla because they have increased their attacks throughout the country.
The militants face a little resistance in taking Zaranj, a city around 1.6 million people.
According to the sources of the Afghan government, the provincial government has reached an agreement with the Taliban which allows authorities in the city to escape across the border to Iran with their families.
A senior police officer Nimroz told TII with the terms of anonymity that the city had been confiscated by the Taliban due to lack of reinforcements from Kabul.
“The 215th Corps of the Afghan National Army is responsible for the security of the city.
Because government forces have shifted all the focuses to the Lashkar Gah, the capital of the neighboring Helmand Province, the collapse of Zaranj has become unavoidable,” the official said, adding that the city was taken over by militants without a single bullet fired.
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The first provincial capital seizure was a major breakthrough for rebel groups since Washington announced it would complete the withdrawal of his troops from Afghanistan next month.
The Taliban source said the group celebrated their victory.
Falling Zaranj will increase their moral fighters in other provinces, they added.
A Taliban commander, refused to reveal his identity, said that Zaranj had strategic interests for groups such as the border with Iran.
“This is just the beginning.
Immediately the other province will fall into our hands,” he said.
Nauroz Khan, a local, said that the city’s population was afraid of the Taliban victory.
“Everyone in the city has limited themselves to their homes.
They live in fear and worry that the Taliban can target people with mere suspicion because they are part of the previous government,” Khan said.
In recent weeks, the Taliban shifted their focus from rural districts that were rarely inhabited into the provincial capital.
At present, the rebels have put pressure on several provincial capitals, including Herat, Kandahar, Sheberghan and Lashkar.
Reports from a war-hit by a war suggest that intense battles occur around intelligence headquarters in the center of Lashkar Gah, and also around the main prison.
Speculation is that the Taliban might try to get into prison to release some Taliban prisoners.
Meanwhile, Afghan troops claimed to have killed a Taliban commander, Mawlawi Mubarak, who according to the government, was the commander of the group’s special forces, called ‘Red Unit’.
However, death has not been confirmed by the Taliban.