Major northern Afghan city Mazar-i-Sharif falls to Taliban

The fall of Mazar-i-Sharif gives the Taliban control over all of northern Afghanistan, as it also draws closer to Kabul.

The Taliban has captured a large, heavily defended city in northern Afghanistan in a major setback for the government, and the group is approaching the capital less than three weeks before the United States hopes to complete its troop withdrawal. The fall on Saturday of Mazar-i-Sharif, the country’s fourth-largest city, which Afghan forces and two powerful former strongmen had pledged to defend, hands the Taliban control over all of northern Afghanistan, confining the Western-backed government to the centre and east. Security forces from Mazar-i-Sharif were escaping towards the border, Afzal Hadid, head of the Balkh provincial council, told Reuters news agency.