More capital cities fall as Taliban blitz takes northeast Afghanistan

The Taliban seized three more Afghan provincial capitals and a local army headquarters Wednesday to complete a blitz across the country's northeast.

The Taliban seized three more Afghan provincial capitals and a local army headquarters Wednesday to complete a blitz across the country's northeast, giving them control of two-thirds of the nation as the US and NATO finalize their withdrawal after decades of war. The fall of the capitals of Badakhshan and Baghlan provinces to the northeast as well as Farah province to the west put increasing pressure on the country's central government to stem the tide of the advance, even as it has lost a major base in Kunduz.