Taliban militants attack Mazar-e-Sharif in Afghanistan

Insurgents are continuing their onslaught on key areas, including the northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif. Logar province has fallen into the hands of the Taliban. (PIC-UNI)

Mazar-e-Sharif vulnerable

The Taliban have launched a major offensive on the northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif, sparking heavy fighting on its outskirts, according to Munir Ahmad Farhad, a spokesman for the provincial governor.

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani had flown to Mazar-e-Sharif on Wednesday in an attempt to rally the city's defenses, meeting with several militia commanders, including Abdul Rashid Dostum and Ata Mohammad Noor. But that show of support appears to have come to nothing.

The commanders remain allied with the government, but some have come under increasing pressure to switch sides, if only for their own survival. Ismail Khan, a powerful former warlord who had tried to defend Herat, was captured by the Taliban when the insurgents seized the city after two weeks of fighting.

Taliban take Logar province

An Afghan lawmaker says the Taliban have captured Logar province, just 11 kilometers (7 miles) south of the capital, Kabul.

Homa Ahmadi, a lawmaker form Logar, says that the Taliban now control the entire province.

US marines arrive as Taliban edges towards Kabul

The Taliban have tightened their territorial grip around Kabul, as US Marines returned to help with emergency evacuations from Afghanistan.

With the country's second- and third-largest cities now under Taliban command, Kabul has effectively become besieged, and may be just weeks away from falling.

Insurgent fighters are now camped just 50 kilometers (30 miles) away, leaving the United States and other countries scrambling to airlift their nationals out of Kabul ahead of a feared Taliban assault.

Taliban takes control of radio station

The Taliban have released a video declaring the takeover of the main radio station in the southern city of Kandahar, renaming it the Voice of Sharia, or Islamic law.

In the footage, an insurgent said all employees were present and would broadcast news, political analysis and recitations of the Quran. It appears the station will no longer play music.