KABUL, Afghanistan – Another provincial capital, the second in two days, nearly fell in Afghanistan on Saturday, officials said, this one in the north of the country, where a Taliban offensive has encircled several cities since international forces began in May, to retire.
The capital Sheberghan in Jowzjan Province collapsed less than 24 hours after the Taliban took over a provincial capital in southwest Afghanistan.
“The whole city has collapsed,” said the deputy governor of Jowzjan, Abdul Qader Malia. “Nothing is left.” On Saturday afternoon, government troops were still controlling the airport and army headquarters outside Sheberghan.
However, much of the province bordering Turkmenistan is now under the control of the Taliban.
The Taliban’s victories – and the defeats of the Afghan government – come despite continued American air support and are the result of an insurgent strategy that has overwhelmed and exhausted the Afghan government forces.
Sheberghan’s fall comes after the Taliban captured around 200 of the 400 or so districts in Afghanistan in the past few months – often without firing a shot. They penetrate deep into the north of the country, even though the region has a reputation for being an anti-Taliban stronghold and relatively safe.
The insurgent offensive has turned into a brutal urban struggle as Taliban fighters advanced into cities like Sheberghan and Kunduz in the north, Kandahar and Lashkar Gah in the south, and Herat in the west, and tens of thousands of civilians amid a desperate struggle for control. Hundreds were killed or wounded and many more were displaced.
On Friday, government forces in Sheberghan reportedly repelled the Taliban incursion after insurgents entered the city and attempted to raid government buildings such as the police headquarters and the prison. The number of civilian victims is unclear.
“The situation in the city is so scary,” said Matin Raufi, a Sheberghan resident. “We don’t know what’s going to happen.”
The Taliban returned on Saturday and penetrated deep into the city, despite desperate attempts by security forces to defend what was still theirs.
“The government troops have withdrawn to the army brigade and the airport, the two places that are still under their control, to regroup and plan counter-attacks against the Taliban,” said Mohammad Karim Jawzjani, member of parliament from Jowzjan.
Sheberghan is the hometown of Marshal Abdul Rashid Dostum, a notorious warlord and former Afghan vice president who survived the last 40 years of war by cutting back and changing sides. It was long expected that Marshal Dostum would muster the same Uzbek militias that fought in the country’s civil war in the 1990s and helped overthrow the Taliban after the 2001 US invasion to serve as a bulwark against the group’s recent boom .
The Sheberghan case is evidence that, despite the resurgence of these militias – which the Afghan government advocates as a complement to its troops – these militias are currently unreliable when it comes to fighting the Taliban.
Marshal Dostum returned to Afghanistan in the past few days after weeks in Turkey – where he is resident and has close ties – to recover from health problems. The aging warlord has left much of his frontline duties to his son Yar Mohammad Dostum, who leads the fight against the Taliban on social media.
On Saturday, Marshal Dostum met with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani in the capital, Kabul, where Marshal Dostum pledged his continued support to the government’s security forces, according to a palace statement.
The warlord’s militias are only part of a kaleidoscope of armed groups that are regaining importance as American forces aim to complete their retreat by the end of August and the Afghan government tries to hold onto territory. The return of the militia is a terrifying throwback to the 1990s, when an ethnically charged civil war helped create the Taliban after the same armed groups brutalized civilians.
The fall of Sheberghan means the Taliban can now move their troops elsewhere, most likely to other besieged cities in the north. The same situation is playing out in southwest Afghanistan, where the insurgents captured Zaranj, the capital of Nimruz province, on Friday.
“Sheberghan and Zaranj can hardly be called cities given their small size, and although these are propaganda victories, the Taliban are still fighting to take the larger cities like Herat and Kandahar,” said Ibraheem Bahiss, an adviser to the International Crisis Group and a independent research analyst. “In these places they encounter considerable resistance and make sacrifices.”
Zaranj, known for its poor governance, lawlessness and illegal economy, will no doubt serve as the starting point for future Taliban operations in the west and south. This is especially true of the capital of neighboring Helmand Province, Lashkar Gah, which is dangerously close to collapse. Fierce fighting in recent days has left parts of the city to rubble and civilians killed.
This leaves the Afghan government few options in both provinces: counterattack and try to recapture the lost territory or relocate troops to another location to defend other besieged cities.
American air support, which is slated to last until the end of the month – or longer if the Pentagon gets permission to continue – is being launched from outside the country, meaning there are insufficient resources to defend every Afghan city attacked .
