Taliban Captured New major cities|| Afgan News

The Taliban have captured the strategic city of Ghazni, 95 miles (150km) south of Kabul, as they continued to tighten their grip on the Afghan capital and the country’s president replaced his army chief.

The insurgent group had control of the entire city on Thursday morning and had broken into a prison and released about 400 inmates, a senior local official confirmed to the Guardian.

The assault reportedly began at around midnight, leading to heavy street-to-street clashes with security forces. By 8am the Taliban were in control of most of the city. “The local police commander and governor were desperate and had no other option and joined the Taliban,” the official said. “People are hiding in their homes, nobody is out.”

The loss of Ghazni, the 10th provincial capital to fall in less than a week, is a major blow for the Afghan government, because the city is located on the highway connecting Kabul to southern Afghanistan. It comes two days after the Taliban captured the key city of Pul-e-Khumri, 140 miles north of the capital, giving the insurgents control of a strategic road junction linking Kabul to the north and west.