KANDAHAR (Dispatches) – This week thousands of Afghans have made their way by car, bus, truck and on foot to Kandahar -- preferring an uncertain future in a basic city camp to braving the fighting.
Local officials said more than 150,000 had arrived just this month.
Humanitarian organizations warn of a major crisis in coming months as the Taliban continue a sweeping offensive that has so far gobbled up a vast swath of the north.
Government forces have abandoned some rural districts without a fight, but are digging in to defend provincial capitals -- including Kandahar -- even as the militants tighten a noose around the cities.
Kandahar is the birthplace of the Taliban, from where the group rose to power in 1996 -- before controlling most of the country by 2001.
The fall of the city would be a disaster for the government, splitting the country into two before winter, when retaking lost territory is particularly difficult.
The fight for Kandahar is also a microcosm of the battle for the rest of the country.
Meanwhile, Afghanistan’s intelligence agency has arrested four journalists for visiting a Taliban-held border town and accused them of spreading enemy “propaganda”, officials said Tuesday.
The four Afghans were detained in Kandahar after returning Monday from Spin Boldak, the border crossing with Pakistan seized by the Taliban earlier this month.
Local media said the journalists were investigating government reports that the Taliban had massacred civilians in the town -- charges the militants deny.
As the Taliban advance militarily in the country, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg says a “negotiated settlement” is necessary.
“The security situation in Afghanistan remains deeply challenging, and requires a negotiated settlement,” Stoltenberg tweeted on Tuesday after speaking to Afghan President Ashraf Ghani.
Negotiations between the Kabul government and the Taliban have so far failed to reach an agreement to end the war. The United Nations recorded nearly 2,400 Afghan civilian casualties in clashes between Taliban militants and government forces in the month of May and June alone, marking a new high in 12 years.
In a report released on Monday, the UN Assistance Mission to Afghanistan (UNAMA) warned that the country could see the highest number of civilians killed since it began keeping records in 2009.
The United States, along with its NATO allies, invaded Afghanistan in October 2001. The invasion, which has led to the longest war in U.S. history, removed the Taliban from power, but it worsened the security situation in the country.
The U.S. and its NATO allies are blamed for the surge in violence in Afghanistan, and many say the invaders have failed to stabilize the security situation in the country.
The militants are believed to control about half of Afghanistan’s roughly 400 districts.