Taliban say will completely take over Afghanistan in 7 days, set eyes on Kabul as key cities fall

Taliban fighters will complete the takeover of Afghanistan, including the capital city of Kabul, in less than seven days, the insurgent group told CNN-News18 on Friday, buoyed by their spectacular success in gaining control of city after city in a weekslong military blitzkrieg.The Taliban do not want to resort to violence and will not attack any foreign mission or non-governmental organisation (NGO), the group said, in an apparent bid to gain some sort of international legitimacy in the face of criticism of its brutal campaign to usurp power in the trouble-torn country.The Taliban's statement came close on the heels of the group's fighters making rapid gains in conflict zones. They have now taken over Afghanistan's second-and third-largest cities in lightning operations that stunned observers and inflicted heavy damages on the crumbling morale of government forces.Though the Afghan government has floated the idea of a power-sharing deal in a bid to end the fighting, experts say the insurgents will not go for such an arrangement at a time when the momentum is on their side.According to CNN-News18, a committee is chalking out a fresh ceasefire plan that will involve the ouster of president Ashraf Ghani.The Taliban, pushed to a corner after the US entered Afghanistan as part of its campaign against terrorism in 2001, have regrouped over the past few years and launched a swift offensive with Washington setting in motion the final phase of its troops pullout on 1 May. The Taliban's major territorial gains have come since the first week of August.On Friday, Taliban fighters claimed to have taken control of Kandahar, Afghanistan's second-largest city, and Herat, the country's third-largest. While Kandahar in the south is considered the birthplace of the Taliban, the historical city of Herat in the west is called Afghanistan's cultural capital.Both cities had been under siege for days and their defence lines crumbled finally with government forces and local militias abandoning their posts in the face of relentless attacks by the Taliban.In Herat, Tajik warlord Ismail Khan, a Pakistan basher who accuses the neighbouring country of supporting the Taliban, and some top officials were detained by the insurgents, according to local media. Khan and his militia had largely been successful in repelling the first wave of attack on Herat.Facing setback after setback, Afghan forces are aligning with influential warlords to withstand the Taliban's challenge, but that strategy too seems to be imploding.Meanwhile, the Taliban found another military success in the southern city of Lashkar Gah, after Thursday's capture of the strategically important Ghazni, which is about 150 kilometres from Kabul. Ghazni's fall cut off a key highway linking Kabul to its southern provinces, according to media reports.As of Friday, the Taliban have gained control of 14 of Afghanistan's 34 provinces, while several others are contested. Geographically, they have seized over 50 percent of the country. The Afghan government still retains control over Mazar-i-Sharif in the north and Jalalabad in the east, alongside Kabul.The US, which once ended the Taliban reign (1996-2001) and singled out the group for harbouring al Qaeda terrorists following the 9/11 attacks, has stuck to its decision to withdraw from the country after two decades of war by 11 September. President Joe Biden maintains that Afghan forces and government should be able to defend their country.A US official has recently cited a US intelligence report that Kabul could fall within 90 days. But the insurgent group's claim that everything would be over in another week or so and their lightning offensives in Herat, Kandahar, Lashkar Gah and Ghazni would trigger concerns among the international community that fear the return of the dark days under Taliban rule - known to undermine civil liberties and human rights. There have been reports of targeted killings of civilians from areas captured by the Taliban.With the crisis spiralling, the US, UK and Canada will deploy special troops to escort their embassy staff out of the country, where citizens stare at an uncertain future and brace for the return of the Taliban's strict Sharia law.And as the country plunged into chaos, the unravelling of Afghan security forces, trained by the US for years, has been spectacular. The combined strength of the Afghan army, air force and police stood at over 300,000 on paper. But there have been reports that the forces have been plagued by corruption and desertion.Government officials have recruited so-called "ghost soldiers" - those who did not actually exist - to appropriate their salaries. And then, there have been reports of defections to the enemy camp.According to some estimates, the Taliban have a core group of 60,000-75,000 soldiers, with the backing of another 100,000-150,000 militiamen and sympathisers. The group gets a large chunk of its funds from the drugs trade - and is also supported by external forces such as Pakistan. In the recent fighting, the Taliban have seized military assets, including Humvees and machine guns, from the retreating Afghan forces.