Taliban Tighten Grip On Afghanistan As All Eyes Turn To Capital Kabul

A government official confirmed that Kandahar, the economic hub of the south, was under Taliban control as international forces complete their withdrawal after 20 years of war.

Taliban insurgents have seized Afghanistan's second- and third-biggest cities as resistance from government forces crumbled, stoking fears that an assault on the capital Kabul could be just days away. A government official confirmed that Kandahar, the economic hub of the south, was under Taliban control as international forces complete their withdrawal after 20 years of war. Herat in the west also fell to the hardline Islamist group. "The city looks like a frontline, a ghost town," provincial council member Ghulam Habib Hashimi said by telephone from Herat, a city of about 600,000 people near the border with Iran.