Taliban seize Afghan city as helicopters land at U.S. Embassy

With the Taliban capture of Jalalabad, leaves the Ashraf Ghani-led central government in control of only Kabul and six other provincial capitals.

The Taliban on August 15 seized the last major city outside of Afghanistan’s capital, Kabul, held by the country's central government, cutting off the capital to the east, as helicopters began landing at the U.S. Embassy there. The , near a major border crossing with Pakistan, leaves Afghanistan's central government in control of just Kabul and six other provincial capitals out of the country's 34. In a nationwide offensive that has taken just over a week, the Taliban has defeated, co-opted or sent Afghan security forces fleeing from wide swathes of the country, even with some air support by the U.S. military.