Today's D Brief: Taliban on the march in N. Afghanistan; SecNav Del Toro; Navy joins Greece wildfire efforts; And a bit more.
By Ben Watson
August 9, 2021 10:53 AM ET
The D Brief
Nearly half a dozen of Afghanistan’s 34 provincial capital cities have fallen to the Taliban since late last week as the group’s fighters are racing to take remote and poorly-defended locations ahead of America’s August 31 withdrawal date. Locations reportedly seized since Thursday include:
North-central Sar-e Pul province, taken Sunday or Monday, depending on Reuters or Associated Press reporting;
Northeastern Taleqan province, which was taken Sunday evening;
Northern Jowzjan province (bordering Turkmenistan) was seized Saturday, according to the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times;
Northern Kunduz (AP reports the group “planted their flag in the city’s main square, where it was seen flying atop a traffic police booth;” CNN on Sunday called it “the first major city to fall” to the Taliban);
North-central Samangan’s capital city of Aibak, where several reports (via Pajhwok News, e.g., as well as here and here) Monday morning suggest that province is the latest to fall;
And southwestern Nimruz’s Zaranj, a remote place that fell Thursday.
Also in the south, Helmand’s capital city has been “mostly taken” by the Taliban, where fighting has raged in Lashkar Gah for the last several weeks, AP reports.
https://www.defenseone.com/threats/2021/08/the-d-brief-august-09-2021/184374/
