Live: As Taliban captures Kandahar enroute to Kabul, embassies move out staff

Taliban captured Lashkar Gah the capital of the southern province of Helmand on Friday, police officials told media outlets. Check Zee News blog for latest updates on Afghanistan Taliban Crisis...

PTI Photo

New Delhi: As Taliban advances across Afghanistan making its way to the capital city, the militants have captured Lashkar Gah, the capital of the southern province of Helmand, a police official said on Friday. After two weeks of heavy fighting, the government lost its stronghold in the town till about Thursday midnight. "About 200 ANDSF members, who were left in the governor's compound, with the intervention of elders, surrendered to the Taliban," the official told Reuters.

On Thursday, the Taliban claimed to capture Herat, Afghanistan`s third-largest city amid US troop withdrawal from the country. As the insurgents make rapid advancement, the US intelligence warned that Kabul could fall to the militants within the next 90 days.

Meanwhile, India issued an advisory asking its citizens to leave for India immediately. The advisory issued on Thursday asked all Indian nationals and professionals operating in Afghanistan, nearly 1500 of them, to strictly adhere to the steps announced earlier by the Indian embassy. 

Check Zee News blog for live and latest updates on Afghanistan Taliban Crisis:

13 August 2021

15:08 PM

The Taliban have captured another three provincial capitals in southern Afghanistan, including in Helmand, the scene of some of the heaviest fighting in the past two decades, as the insurgents press a lightning offensive that is gradually encircling the capital, Kabul. The insurgents have taken more than a dozen provincial capitals in recent days and now control more than two-thirds of the country just weeks before the U.S. Plans to withdraw its last troops. (PTI)

14:59 PM

The Taliban captures Afghanistan`s second biggest city of Kandahar, officials said on Friday, fuelling fears the U.S.-backed government could fall to the insurgents as international forces complete their withdrawal after 20 years of war.

In response to the Taliban advances, the Pentagon said it would send about 3,000 extra troops within 48 hours to help evacuate U.S. embassy staff. Britain said it would deploy about 600 troops to help its citizens leave while other embassies and aid groups said they too were getting their people out. (Reuters)

14:05 PM

As US sends 3,000 troops to Kabul to be on standby if the situation worsens even as 2,500 tropps have been pulled out, a reporter confronted Pentagon about the irony of the situation.

"There's a certain irony here that the drawdown was for 2,500 troops, and you are sending in an additional 3,000 to get out civilians, and ramping it up super-quick. And on top of that, another 3,500 in Kuwait...I mean, isn't this ironic?," a journalist asked Kirby on Thursday.   

Kirby replied, “This is a temporary mission with a narrow focus.”

12:41 PM

The meetings in Doha on Afghanistan crisis have sent a message to the Taliban that it won't get legitimacy if it comes to power by force and called on both the Afghan government and Taliban to accelerate the peace process. The Chairman's statement said, "Participants reaffirmed that they will not recognize any government in Afghanistan that is imposed through the use of military force."

12:07 PM

The United Nations has warned that a Taliban offensive reaching the capital would have a "catastrophic impact on civilians" but there is little hope for negotiations to end the fighting with the Taliban apparently set on a military victory. In the deal struck with former US President Donald Trump`s administration last year, the insurgents agreed not to attack US-led foreign forces as they withdrew.

They also made a commitment to discuss peace but intermittent meetings with government representatives have proved fruitless. International envoys to Afghan negotiations in Qatar called for an accelerated peace process as a "matter of great urgency" and for a halt to attacks on cities. (Reuters)

11:48 AM

The Taliban have captured Afghanistan`s Lashkar Gah, capital of the southern province of Helmand, after two weeks of heavy fighting, a police official said on Friday. Government and senior armed forces officials flew by helicopter out of the government`s last stronghold in the town at about midnight on Thursday, said the official, who declined to be identified. (Reuters)

11:47 AM

Apart from India, the US, UK and Germany has issued similar advisories, asking their nationals to immediately return home.

11:46 AM

Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi in a press briefing assured that India is in touch with all the stakeholders in Afghanistan and closely monitoring the ground situation in the war-ravaged country.

11:45 AM

The advisory issued by the Indian embassy in Kabul asked all Indian nationals and professionals operating in Afghanistan to strictly adhere to the steps announced earlier. While in its last order, the Indian embassy in Afghanistan had asked all citizens to immediately leave for India.

Security Advisory for Indian Nationals in Afghanistan@MEAIndia pic.twitter.com/SMKc7uAfl8

— India in Afghanistan (@IndianEmbKabul) August 12, 2021