Taliban sweep across Afghanistan''s south,

take 3 more cities

Attaullah Afghan, the head of the provincial council in Helmand, says
that Taliban captured the provincial capital of Lashkar Gah following
heavy fighting and raised their white flag over governmental
installations. He says that three national army bases outside of
Lashkar Gah remain under control of the government.
Atta Jan Haqbayan, the provincial council chief in Zabul province, said
the local capital of Qalat fell to the Taliban and that officials are in a
nearby army camp preparing to leave.
Two lawmakers from Afghanistan's southern Uruzgan province said
local officials have surrendered the provincial capital, Tirin Kot, to the
rapidly advancing Taliban. Bismillah Jan Mohammad and Qudratullah
Rahimi confirmed the surrender Friday. Mohammad says the governor
is en route to the airport to depart for Kabul.
The latest advances came hours after the insurgents captured the
country's second and third largest cities in a lightning advance. The
seizures of Kandahar and Herat mark the biggest prizes yet for the
Taliban.
While Kabul isn't directly under threat yet, the losses and the battles
elsewhere further tighten the grip of a resurgent Taliban, who are
estimated to now hold over two-thirds of the country and continue to
press their offensive.
Thousands of Afghans have fled their homes amid fears the Taliban
will again impose a brutal, repressive government, all but eliminating
women's rights and conducting public executions.
Fazel Haq Ehsan, chief of the provincial council in the western Ghor
province, said Friday that the Taliban had entered Feroz Koh, the
provincial capital, and that there was fighting inside the city. The
Taliban meanwhile claimed to have captured Qala-e Naw, capital of
the western Badghis province. There was no official confirmation.
The Taliban are also on the move in Logar province, just south of
Kabul, where they claim to have seized the police headquarters in the
provincial capital of Puli-e Alim as well as a nearby prison. The city is
some 80 kilometers (50 miles) south of Kabul.
In Herat, Taliban fighters rushed past the Great Mosque in the historic
city - a structure that dates to 500 BC and was once a spoil of
Alexander the Great - and seized government buildings. Witnesses
described hearing sporadic gunfire at one government building while
the rest of the city fell silent under the insurgents' control.
Herat had been under militant attack for two weeks, with one wave
blunted by the arrival of warlord Ismail Khan and his forces. But on
Thursday afternoon, Taliban fighters broke through the city's
defensive lines and later said they were in control.
Afghan lawmaker Semin Barekzai also acknowledged the city's fall,
saying that some officials there had escaped. It wasn't immediately
clear what happened to Khan, who earlier had been described as
under attack with his forces at a government building.
In Kandahar, the birthplace of the Taliban, insurgents seized the
governor's office and other buildings, witnesses said. The governor
and other officials fled the onslaught, catching a flight to Kabul, the
witnesses added. They declined to be named publicly as the defeat
has yet to be acknowledged by the government.
The Taliban had earlier attacked a prison in Kandahar and freed
inmates inside, officials said.
Earlier Thursday, the militants raised their white flags imprinted with
an Islamic proclamation of faith over the city of Ghazni, which sits on a
crucial north-south highway just 130 kilometers (80 miles) southwest
of Kabul.
In southern Afghanistan, the Taliban's heartland, heavy fighting
continued in Lashkar Gah, where surrounded government forces
hoped to hold onto the capital of Helmand province.
Nasima Niazi, a lawmaker from Helmand, criticized ongoing airstrikes
targeting the area, saying civilians likely had been wounded and killed.
"The Taliban used civilian houses to protect themselves, and the
government, without paying any attention to civilians, carried out
airstrikes," she said.