WASHINGTON/KABUL, Aug eleven (Reuters) - Taliban fighters ought to isolate Afghanistan's capital in 30 days and likely take it over within ninety, a U.S. Defence legit cited U.S. Intelligence as announcing, as the resurgent militants made extra advances throughout the us of a.
The official, talking to Reuters on condition of anonymity on Wednesday, said the brand new assessment of ways lengthy Kabul should stand become a result of the Taliban's speedy gains as U.S.-led overseas forces go away.
"But this is not a foregone end," the reliable added, announcing that the Afghan protection forces may want to reverse the momentum with the aid of placing up more resistance.
The Islamists now control 65% of Afghanistan and feature taken or threaten to take 11 provincial capitals, a senior EU reliable stated on Tuesday. Faizabad, within the northeastern province of Badakhshan, on Wednesday became the eighth provincial capital to be seized by means of the Taliban.
Fighting was extraordinarily extreme in Kandahar town, a health practitioner based in southern Kandahar provice stated. The metropolis received rankings of our bodies of Afghan forces and some injured Taliban.
All gateways to Kabul, which lies in a valley surrounded with the aid of mountains, were full of civilians fleeing violence, a Western protection source said. It changed into difficult to tell whether or not Taliban opponents had been additionally getting through, the source stated.
"The fear is of suicide bombers entering the diplomatic quarters to scare, attack and make certain anyone leaves on the earliest opportunity," he said.
The velocity of the Taliban boost has shocked the government and its allies. The organization, which controlled maximum of Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001, when it turned into ousted for harbouring al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden after September 11, desires to defeat the united statesbacked government and reimpose strict Islamic regulation.
U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price said the assaults had been towards the spirit of a 2020 settlement.
The Taliban dedicated to talks on a peace accord that might cause a "everlasting and comprehensive ceasefire," Price said on Wednesday. "All warning signs at least advocate the Taliban are as a substitute pursuing a battlefield victory."
"Attacking provincial capitals and concentrated on civilians is inconsistent with the spirit of the settlement," he stated.
The United Nations said extra than 1,000 civilians were killed inside the past month, and the International Committee of the Red Cross said that considering Aug. 1 a few four,042 wounded human beings had been dealt with at 15 health facilities.
The Taliban denied concentrated on or killing civilians and called for an impartial research.
The group "has now not focused any civilians or their houses in any locality, as an alternative the operations have been undertaken with exceptional precision and warning," spokesperson Suhail Shaheen stated in a assertion on Wednesday.
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