Fierce fighting rages in Afghanistan

KABUL/BEIJING: Fighting between the Afghan government forces and the Taliban has intensified with both sides heavily pounding each other’s positions, prompting the United States and the United Kingdom to appeal to their citizens to leave Afghanistan as their options were ‘extremely limited’ to help them.

The Taliban Saturday seized the stronghold of a notorious Afghan warlord, officials said. This is the second provincial capital to fall to the Taliban within 24 hours, officials said, reports the international media.

The Deputy Governor of Jawzjan province confirmed that he was with government forces who had abandoned Sheberghan city and retreated to the airport on its outskirts, where they were preparing to defend themselves.

The city is home to warlord Abdul Rashid Dostum, who only returned to Afghanistan this week from medical treatment in Turkey, but is currently in Kabul.

Aides said he was meeting with President Ashraf Ghani Saturday in an attempt to persuade him to fly in reinforcements.

"We have demanded the government deploys at least 500 commandos so we could work to retake the city," said his party´s spokesman, Ehsan Niro.

The Taliban have taken control of vast tracts of rural Afghanistan since early May when they launched a series of offensives to coincide with the start of the final withdrawal of foreign troops.

Afghan government forces largely abandoned the countryside to the Taliban, but are now scrambling to defend a string of cities.

The war has also returned to the capital, with a senior government information official shot dead in the street on Friday, three days after the defence minister survived a brazen assassination attempt involving a car bomb and Taliban hit squad.

Qader Malia, deputy governor of Jawzjan province, told AFP Sheberghan had "unfortunately fallen", but interior ministry spokesman Marwais Stanikzai insisted the Taliban held only parts of the city.

"The security forces, backed by reinforcements and the uprising forces, will once again clear the city from terrorists," he said in a video message to the media.

In Zaranj, social media posts suggested the Taliban were welcomed by some residents of the desert city, which has long had a reputation for lawlessness.

They showed captured military Humvees, luxury SUVs, and pickups speeding through the streets, flying white Taliban flags as local residents -- mostly youths and young men -- cheered them on.

On entering Zaranj the Taliban opened the gates of the city jail, officials said, freeing prisoners.

Meanwhile, Afghanistan’s ambassador in China has welcomed Beijing’s offer for mediation on Afghanistan saying they had full faith in the Chinese intentions.

In an interview with a UK-based international wire agency, Ambassador Javid Ahmad Qaem said the Chinese position was that they want to mediate, adding that the Afghan government welcomed China's involvement.

However, Qaem warned that the Taliban could not be trusted to keep their promises to China.

He said China had adopted the Afghan-led, Afghan-owned approach in line with its principle of non-intervention and he understood why it wanted to stick to the middle ground.

He said China was transparent about its engagement with the Taliban, informing the Afghan government before extending its invitation.

"We have faith in the Chinese intentions,” Qaem said.

Last week Foreign Minister Wang Yi hosted a Taliban delegation in the northern city of Tianjin, days after meeting US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman in the same location.

In receiving the Taliban officials, Wang called them a "significant military and political force" expected to play a key role in Afghanistan's reconstruction.

Qaem said the Afghan government had not asked China to send troops to support it but it could help in other ways.

“China could also serve as a conduit for messages from Kabul to the Taliban, as it was at last week's meeting - relaying a government call for a ceasefire and an appeal for an inclusive political framework,” he said.

China can also help in boosting trade and buying more Afghan products such as saffron, he added.

Meanwhile, flights were suspended after rockets hit the runway at Kandahar, Afghanistan's second-biggest international airport, officials confirmed Saturday, as security forces work to fight off Taliban advances in the country’s three biggest cities.

Ahmad Zia, Interior Ministry spokesman, told Anadolu Agency that multiple rockets were fired by the Taliban in the morning, leading to the suspension of flights. Blaming the Taliban for the shelling, Zia said there were no casualties.

The provincial police command said two rockets hit the runway, partially damaging it, and officials vowed repairs would be done by Monday to resume flight operations.

An Afghan Air Force pilot was killed by a bomb in a Kabul district on Saturday, officials said, in an attack claimed by the Taliban.

The pilot killed on Saturday, Hamidullah Azimi, was travelling when a sticky bomb attached to his vehicle went off, officials said, adding that five civilians were injured in the explosion. Azimi was trained in flying US-made UH60 Black Hawk helicopters, and had been working with the Afghan Air Force for almost four years, Afghan Air Force Commander Abdul Fatah Eshaqzai said.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Muhajid said in a statement that they had carried out the attack.

The Taliban have confirmed a program that would see US-trained Afghan pilots "targeted and eliminated." In a related development, the US and Britain Saturday advised their citizens to leave Afghanistan immediately because of the worsening security situation in the country.

An advisory issued by the US embassy in Kabul on Saturday urged Americans "to leave Afghanistan immediately using available commercial flight options".

The embassy said its ability to assist US citizens in Afghanistan was "extremely limited even within Kabul" because of the security conditions and reduced staffing.

The US warning came a day after the UK's Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office asked British citizens to leave Afghanistan.

"If you are still in Afghanistan, you are advised to leave now by commercial means because of the worsening security situation," it said. The warnings came after the Taliban assassinated a senior government spokesman in Kabul on Friday and captured their first provincial capital since increasing attacks across the country in May.