People asked me not to resist Taliban to avoid bloodshed: Afghan Guv

Kabul:  Mohammad Omar Sherzad, the Governor of Uruzgan province in Afghanistan, which has fallen to the Taliban, has released a video saying that people had asked him not to resist the Taliban fighters so that people are not killed and the city is not damaged, media reports said.

In the video, Sherzad said that tribal elders and political leaders have asked him not to put up any resistance to the Taliban to avoid bloodshed, so he handed over the control to the militant fighters.

The Taliban have toppled six provincial capitals in the past 24 hours, which brings the total number of provinces fallen to the fighters to 18.

Kandahar, Helmand, Herat, Badghis, Ghor, Logar, Zabul and Oruzgan provinces fell to the Taliban in the past 24 hours.

Apart from the aforementioned provinces, there are also other provinces like Paktia and Wardak where the Afghan government forces only control the provincial capitals while the Taliban control the rest of the geography.

The Taliban confirmed on Friday that they have arrested Herat’s former Governor, warlord Ismail Khan, along with several of his top aides.

In Herat province, former Jihadi leader Ismail Khan, Deputy Interior Minister Abdurahman Rahman, Governor Abdulsabor Qani, Commander of Afghan National Army Zafar, and the head of the National Directorate of Security’s local office have surrendered to the Taliban.

The Logar province, only two hours from the Afghan Presidential Palace, also witnessed heavy conflict between the Taliban and the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces (ANDSF) in the capital Pol-e-Alam.

Videos captured by the local people in the province show that the central prison has been broken and scores of prisoners fleeing the jail, though the Afghan government is yet to comment about the prison or the collapse of the province.

The rise in the gains of the Taliban comes at a time when the head of the High Council for National Reconciliation, Abdullah Abdullah, arrived in Kabul from Doha and is due to hold a meetings with the politicians.

(IANS)