KABUL (Dispatches) – The Taliban militant group claimed on Monday to have taken over a sixth provincial capital in Afghanistan in four days, which displaced more civilians across the country.
The group captured the main government facilities in Aybak, the capital of Samangan province, according to provincial councilor Raz Mohammad and two lawmakers representing the province in the parliament.
Pro-government forces abandoned the city and fled to a hilltop called Koh-e-Bast after the central government failed to send reinforcements, one of the lawmakers said.
Taloqan, the capital of the northern province of Takhar, was overrun on Sunday afternoon. It became the third major provincial center to fall to the Taliban in one day, according to local reports.
Earlier in the day, the strategic hub of the northeastern province of Kunduz was seized by the militant group, before it pushed into other key provincial cities, sending shockwaves across the country.
The Taliban also captured the provincial capital of Sar-e-Pol province.
Afghan officials have promised to resist the Taliban’s push to take over the country, with some blaming the United States for the deteriorating security situation.
Deputy Speaker of the Afghan Senate Mohammad Alam Izedyar insisted on Sunday that Washington’s policy of concurrently recognizing the Taliban and the Afghan government had instigated the ongoing crisis in Afghanistan, pointing out that the Doha agreement with the militants and the Kabul-Washington security pact were signed on the same day.
On Saturday, U.S. B-52 Stratofortress bombers struck Taliban forces in Sheberghan, Jawzjan Province, causing casualties, Afghan Defense Ministry spokesman Fawad Aman confirmed on Twitter.
The Taliban issued a message to the United States warning against any further interference in Afghanistan’s internal affairs, a spokesperson for the movement’s Political Office told Al Jazeera.
“We are warning against the U.S. interference in Afghanistan”, the spokesperson for the Taliban Political Office said, stressing that no intra-Afghan ceasefire had been reached.
The unidentified Taliban official further accused the government in Kabul of escalating current tensions across the country by launching military operations in several provinces in an effort to ward off massive onslaughts by the militant group.