阿富汗喀布尔——塔利班周五完成了对阿富汗南部的扫荡，在闪电攻势中又拿下了四个省会城市，这使得他们离喀布尔更近了，就在美国即将正式结束其20年战争的几周前。
在过去的24小时里，该国的第二和第三大城市——西部的赫拉特和南部的坎大哈——已经落入叛乱分子手中，南部省份赫尔曼德省的首府也是如此，在那里，美国、英国和北约部队打了一些冲突中最血腥的战斗。
对塔利班南部中心地带的闪电战意味着叛乱分子现在控制了阿富汗34个省会的一半，并控制了该国三分之二以上的地区。首都喀布尔由西方支持的政府仍然控制着中部和东部的一些省份，以及北部城市马扎里沙里夫。
虽然喀布尔还没有直接受到威胁，但死灰复燃的塔利班正在距离首都约80公里(50英里)的洛加尔省与政府军作战。美国军方估计，喀布尔可能在30天内受到叛乱分子的压力，塔利班可能在几个月内占领该国其他地区。他们已经占领了该国北部和西部的大部分地区。
在南部，叛乱分子周五横扫了三个省会城市。
赫尔曼德省议会负责人阿图拉·阿富汗说，经过数周的激战，塔利班占领了拉什卡尔加，并在政府大楼上空升起了他们的白旗。他说，城外的三个军事基地仍在政府控制之下。
在南部乌鲁兹甘省的首府提林科特，塔利班武装分子开着从阿富汗军队手中缴获的一辆悍马车和一辆皮卡游行穿过一个主要广场。当地官员证实，塔利班还占领了南部的扎布尔省和西部的古尔省。
随着安全局势迅速恶化，美国计划派遣3000名士兵帮助从美国驻喀布尔大使馆撤离一些人员。英国和加拿大也派遣部队协助撤离。丹麦表示将暂时关闭大使馆，而德国则将大使馆工作人员减少到“绝对最低限度”
联合国秘书长敦促塔利班立即停止进攻，并“本着诚意”进行谈判，以避免旷日持久的内战。秘书长安东尼奥·古特雷斯在向伊斯兰激进组织发出的最强烈呼吁中表示，他对有迹象表明塔利班“在其控制的地区实施严格限制，特别是针对妇女和记者”感到“深感不安”
成千上万的阿富汗人逃离了他们的家园，因为他们担心塔利班会让这个国家回到上一次在世纪之交掌权时实行的那种残酷镇压的统治。当时，该组织几乎取消了妇女权利，并进行公开处决，因为它强加了一个毫不留情的伊斯兰法律版本。这种策略的一个早期迹象出现在赫拉特，周五，叛乱分子在街上游行两名据称抢劫者，脸上涂着黑色化妆品。
还有人担心，这场战斗可能会使该国陷入内战，这是1989年苏联撤军后发生的事情。
“我们很担心。阿富汗到处都在打仗。喀布尔居民艾哈迈德·萨基说。“政府应该做点什么。人民面临许多问题。”
联合国难民署表示，自5月底以来，近25万阿富汗人被迫逃离家园，其中80%是妇女和儿童。该机构表示，自今年年初以来，共有约40万平民流离失所，加入了近几十年来逃离前几轮战斗的数百万人的行列。
塔利班和政府在卡塔尔的和平谈判仍然停滞不前，尽管外交官们仍在开会，因为美国、欧洲和亚洲国家警告说，战场上的胜利不会带来政治认可。
美国谈判特使扎勒迈·哈利勒扎德说:“我们要求立即停止对城市的袭击，敦促达成政治解决方案，并警告说，以武力强加的政府将是一个不受欢迎的国家。”。
但是塔利班继续推进。
洛加尔省议会负责人哈西布拉·斯塔尼扎伊说，战斗仍在普利埃阿利姆进行，政府军控制着警察总部和其他安全设施。他在办公室打电话，背景中可以听到枪声。然而，塔利班称他们已经占领了警察总部和附近的一所监狱。
这次袭击代表着阿富汗军队的惊人崩溃，此前美国花费了近20年的时间和8300亿美元试图建立一个正常运转的国家。美国军队在2001年9月11日的袭击后推翻了塔利班，基地组织在塔利班政府的庇护下策划并实施了这些袭击。
距离美国计划撤出最后一批军队只剩下几周时间了，现在在全国各地前进的战士们骑着美国制造的悍马车，载着从阿富汗军队偷来的M-16。
保卫民主基金会的高级研究员比尔·罗吉欧说，由于腐败和管理不善，阿富汗军队已经从内部腐烂，使得战场上的军队装备差，没有多少战斗的动力。与此同时，塔利班花了十年时间控制了大片农村地区。
这使得他们能够在乔·拜登总统宣布美国撤军时间表后，迅速占领关键的基础设施和城市地区，称他决心结束美国持续时间最长的战争。
“无论喀布尔地区和周围省份还剩下什么部队，他们都将被用来保卫喀布尔，”罗吉欧说。“除非发生一些戏剧性的变化，我不认为这是可能的，否则这些省份(已经沦陷)将继续处于塔利班的控制之下。”
一天前，在赫拉特，塔利班战士冲过这座历史名城的大清真寺——这座建筑可以追溯到公元前500年，曾经是亚历山大大帝的战利品——并占领了政府大楼。赫拉特已经被武装分子袭击了两个星期。
目击者称，在坎大哈，叛乱分子占领了省长办公室和其他建筑，官员们纷纷逃离。他们要求匿名，因为政府尚未承认失败，也没有对最新进展发表评论。
赫尔曼德省议员纳西马·尼亚齐周四说，空袭可能造成平民伤亡。美国中央司令部承认最近几天实施了几次袭击，但没有提供细节。
与此同时，在邻国巴基斯坦，该国国家安全顾问敦促阿富汗领导人寻求与塔利班谈判解决，以避免进一步的暴力。穆罕默德·优素福星期五在巴基斯坦首都伊斯兰堡对记者发表讲话时发出呼吁。
Taliban sweep across Afghanistan's south, take 4 more cities
KABUL, Afghanistan -- The Taliban completed their sweep of Afghanistan's south on Friday, taking four more provincial capitals in a lightning offensive that brought them closer to Kabul just weeks before the U.S. is set to officially end its two-decade war.
In the last 24 hours, the country's second- and third-largest cities — Herat in the west and Kandahar in the south — have fallen to the insurgents, as has the capital of the southern province of Helmand, where American, British and NATO forces fought some of the bloodiest battles of the conflict.
The blitz through the Taliban's southern heartland means the insurgents now hold half of Afghanistan's 34 provincial capitals and control more than two-thirds of the country. The Western-backed government in the capital, Kabul, still holds a smattering of provinces in the center and east, as well as the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif.
While Kabul is not directly under threat yet, the resurgent Taliban were battling government forces in Logar province, some 80 kilometers (50 miles) from the capital. The U.S. military has estimated that Kabul could come under insurgent pressure within 30 days and that the Taliban could overrun the rest of the country within a few months. They have already taken over much of the north and west of the country.
In the south, insurgents swept through three provincial capitals on Friday.
The Taliban captured Lashkar Gah following weeks of heavy fighting and raised their white flag over governmental buildings, said Attaullah Afghan, the head of the provincial council in Helmand. He said that three army bases outside of the city remain under government control.
In Tirin Kot, the capital of the southern Uruzgan province, Taliban fighters paraded through a main square, driving a Humvee and a pickup seized from Afghan forces. Local officials confirmed that the Taliban also captured the capitals of Zabul province in the south and Ghor in the west.
With security rapidly deteriorating, the United States planned to send in 3,000 troops to help evacuate some personnel from the U.S. Embassy in Kabul. Britain and Canada are also sending forces to aid their evacuations. Denmark said it will temporarily close its embassy, while Germany is reducing its embassy staff to the “absolute minimum.”
The United Nations chief urged the Taliban to immediately halt the offensive and negotiate “in good faith” to avert a prolonged civil war. In his strongest appeal to the Islamic militant group, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he was “deeply disturbed" by indications that the Taliban were "imposing severe restrictions in the areas under their control, particularly targeting women and journalists.”
Hundreds of thousands of Afghans have fled their homes amid fears the Taliban will return the country to the sort of brutal, repressive rule it imposed when it was last in power at the turn of the millennium. At that time, the group all but eliminated women’s rights and conducted public executions as it imposed an unsparing version of Islamic law. An early sign of such tactics came in Herat, where insurgents paraded two alleged looters through the streets on Friday with black makeup smeared on their faces.
There are also concerns that the fighting could plunge the country into civil war, which is what happened after the Soviets withdrew in 1989.
“We are worried. There is fighting everywhere in Afghanistan. The provinces are falling day by day," said Ahmad Sakhi, a resident of Kabul. "The government should do something. The people are facing lots of problems.”
The U.N. refugee agency said nearly 250,000 Afghans have been forced to flee their homes since the end of May, and 80% of those displaced are women and children. In all, the agency said, some 400,000 civilians have been displaced since the beginning of the year, joining millions who have fled previous rounds of fighting in recent decades.
Peace talks in Qatar between the Taliban and the government remain stalled, though diplomats are still meeting, as the U.S., European and Asian nations warned that battlefield gains would not lead to political recognition.
“We demand an immediate end to attacks against cities, urge a political settlement, and warn that a government imposed by force will be a pariah state,” said Zalmay Khalilzad, the U.S. envoy to the talks.
But the Taliban advance continued.
Fighting was still underway inside Puli-e Alim, with government forces holding the police headquarters and other security facilities, said Hasibullah Stanikzai, the head of the Logar provincial council. He spoke by phone from his office, and gunfire could be heard in the background. The Taliban, however, said they had captured the police headquarters and a nearby prison.
The onslaught represents a stunning collapse of Afghan forces after the United States spent nearly two decades and $830 billion trying to establish a functioning state. U.S. forces toppled the Taliban in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, which al-Qaida planned and executed while being sheltered by the Taliban government.
With only weeks remaining before the U.S. plans to withdraw its last troops, the fighters now advancing across the country ride on American-made Humvees and carry M-16s pilfered from Afghan forces.
Bill Roggio, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said the Afghan army has rotted from within due to corruption and mismanagement, leaving troops in the field poorly equipped and with little motivation to fight. The Taliban, meanwhile, have spent a decade taking control of large swaths of the countryside.
That allowed them to rapidly seize key infrastructure and urban areas once President Joe Biden announced the timeline for the U.S. withdrawal, saying he was determined to end America's longest war.
“Whatever forces are left or remaining that are in the Kabul area and the provinces around them, they’re going to be used for the defense of Kabul,” Roggio said. “Unless something dramatically changes, and I don’t see how that’s possible, these provinces (that have fallen) will remain under Taliban control."
A day earlier, in Herat, Taliban fighters rushed past the Great Mosque in the historic city — a structure that dates to 500 BC and was once a spoil of Alexander the Great — and seized government buildings. Herat had been under militant attack for two weeks.
In Kandahar, insurgents seized the governor’s office and other buildings, and officials fled, witnesses said. They spoke on condition of anonymity because the defeat has yet to be acknowledged by the government, which has not commented on the latest advances.
Civilians were likely wounded and killed in airstrikes, Nasima Niazi, a lawmaker from Helmand, said Thursday. U.S. Central Command has acknowledged carrying out several strikes in recent days, without providing details.
Meanwhile in neighboring Pakistan, the country's national security adviser urged Afghan leaders to seek a negotiated settlement with the Taliban to avoid further violence. Moeed Yusuf made the appeal Friday while speaking to reporters in the Pakistani capital of Islamabad.
