The Taliban also conquer Lashkar Gah, an important city in southern Afghanistan, the capital of the country’s largest province, Helmand. In yesterday’s advance, the Taliban took the second and third largest cities in Afghanistan, Kandahar and Herat, where the Italian soldiers were deployed a few weeks ago. Thus, 14 capitals of the 34 Afghan provinces have fallen into the hands of the Taliban in one week. The capture of Kandahar, a city of 651,000 inhabitants, is strategically and symbolically important, having been the stronghold of the Taliban.All Afghan government forces have left the city and took refuge in the barracks of the 205th battalion, deputies Gul Ahmad told dpa Kamin and Arif Noorzai. The retreat came after tough fighting with Taliban forces around and in the city over the past 3 weeks.
