KABUL: The Taliban has taken more than a quarter of 34 Afghan provincial capital in less than a week when US foreign troops descend from the country.
Here is a three-month display since their sweeping attack starts: In early May, NATO began its final withdrawal in Afghanistan involving 9,600 soldiers – 2,500 of them.
Intense battle immediately broke out between the Taliban and government forces in South Helmand Province.
The bomb blast outside the girl’s school on May 8 in Kabul killed 85, most of the students.
The deadliest attack in a year was blamed for the Taliban, even though they did not claim it.
US troops withdraw from one of the largest airbases in Afghanistan in Kandahar, the second largest city in the country, in mid-May.
The rebels then seized districts in Wardak Province near Kabul, and in the main province of Ghazni, which straddled the road that connects the capital to Kandahar.
In mid-June they have arrested several districts in northern provinces, forcing military retreats.
The Taliban controls the junction of the Border Shir Khan Bandar Utama with Tajikistan on June 22, encourages Central Asian countries to examine the readiness of the battle of armed forces.
Officials on July 2 announced the departure of all American and NATO forces from Bagram, Afghanistan’s biggest airbase, who served as Linchpin from US-led operations in this country for two decades.
Two days later, the Taliban won the main district of Panjwai in Kandahar, the birthplace of the rebels and the former fort.
Taliban announced the arrest of Qala Islamic, the largest border intersection in Afghanistan with Iran, on July 9 on July 14, the rebels took control of the border borders spinning with Pakistan, the main trade route between the two countries.
The Taliban offensif increased sharply with a new focus in the city centers when the rebels attacked the city of Lashkar Gah, Kandahar and Herat.
The United States and the United Kingdom said the Taliban might have committed war crimes, accused the rebels of the “civilian citizen” in the city of Spin Boldak.
Eight people were killed on August 3 in bomb attacks and pistols coordinated by the Taliban who targeted Afghan defense ministers and several parliamentarians in Kabul.
Taliban shot dead the head of the Afghan government media information center at a mosque in the capital on August 6.
Taliban captured the capital of their first Afghan Province, the city of Zaraj in the southwestern Nimroz, took it “without fighting”.
The following days several other northern cities fell: Sheberghan, Kunduz, Sar-e-Pul, Taloqan, Aibak, Farah and Pul-e-Khumri.
Despite the progress of bloodshed and sweeping, US President Joe Biden did not give a suggestion that he would postpone the withdrawal deadline.
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani flew to the northern city of Mazar-I-Sharif which was surrounded on August 11 to gather his troops.
But his visit was overshadowed by the surrender of hundreds of Afghan soldiers at Kunduz closest and the capture of the ninth provincial capital, Faizabad.
Taliban Capture Ghazni, 150 kilometers (90 kilometers) southwest Kabul, on August 12.
Herat fell west on the same day, and a day later the Taliban arrested Kandahar and Laskar gah in the south.
The cities of Asadabad and Gardez followed on Saturday with Mazar-I-Sharif, where President Ghani visited only three days before.
Taliban now camping is only 50 kilometers from Kabul.