Taliban invade Afghan territory… controlling six new areas

The Taliban continue to expand their area of control in Afghanistan by occupying new areas and expelling government forces.

On Monday, government officials announced the fall of 6 new districts to the Taliban after government forces abandoned or expelled them in the past 24 hours.

The Taliban-controlled areas are: Ube in Herat province, Sagar in Ghor province, Sayad in Sar-e Pul district, Arjandab in Zabul, and Lash-e Guin and Pushti Rod districts in Farah province.

Members of the regional councils said that service members who had been trapped in the district centers for a long time either fled to join other forces or were evacuated with air support after not receiving air and ground support, and some left their military equipment and ammunition.

Local officials also said it was not immediately clear what happened to some of the soldiers who withdrew.

In addition to the six districts that fell to the Taliban, militants briefly took control of the Khanabad area of Kunduz province on Monday, but were retaken by security forces.

Militants have recently made a series of gains. Since the official withdrawal of U.S. and other NATO forces began on May 1, at least 23 areas have fallen into Taliban hands.

Afghanistan has 34 provinces and some 400 districts, and the district centers act as secondary-level administrative units, with one level less than the provinces.

A source within the government said that the evacuation of non-strategic areas, bases and checkpoints was aimed at protecting cities and other key areas from collapse. However, concerns about the capacity of the security forces are growing after the full withdrawal of international forces.