Afghanistan: Taliban continue attacks on three major cities

Fighting is raging around three major cities in south and west Afghanistan, as Taliban militants seek to seize them from government forces.

Herat, Lashkar Gah and Kandahar saw continued clashes on Sunday.

The Taliban have made rapid rural gains since it was announced almost all foreign troops would go by September.

But the fate of these key cities could be crucial amid fears of a humanitarian crisis and how long government forces will be able to hold out.

The fundamentalist Islamist militia is already thought to have captured up to half of all Afghanistan’s territory, including lucrative border crossings with Iran and Pakistan, but it has yet to take a provincial capital.

In Lashkar Gah, heavy fighting continued inside the city on Sunday.

Insurgents were reportedly only a few hundred metres from the governor’s office on Saturday – but had been pushed back by nightfall.

Afghan and US air strikes have reportedly targeted Taliban positions and government forces say they have killed dozens of militants.

One resident, Halim Karimi, told Agence France-Presse: “Neither the Taliban will have mercy on us, nor will the government stop bombing.”

Agencies