Taliban over-runs Afghanistan as 18th city falls, NATO unsettled

The Taliban armed group has captured the provincial capitals, Qalat, Terenkot, Pul-e Alam, Feruz Koh, Qala-e Naw and Lashkar Gah, hours after capturing Herat and Kandahar cities.

The group is now in control over 18 provincial capitals across Afghanistan.

“Afghanistan is tipping towards civil war and the West must understand that the Taliban is not a single entity but a title for a myriad of competing interests, the United Kingdom’s defence minister says.

“Britain found that out in the 1830s, that it is a country led by warlords and led by different provinces and tribes, and you end up, if you’re not very careful in a civil war, and I think we are heading towards a civil war,” Defence Secretary Ben Wallace tells the BBC.

“The Taliban is not entirely a single entity, they break down underneath the title into all sorts of different interests,” Wallace said.

Since the US and its allies started pulling out of the country after 20 years of counter-terrorism, the Taliban has gained renewed strength as it moves towards the capital.