Initial advances In May, the Taliban captured 15 districts from the Afghan government, including
Nirkh and
Jalrez Districts in
Maidan Wardak Province. Among the locations captured was the
Dahla Dam in
Kandahar Province, Afghanistan's second largest dam. During the month, 405
Afghan National Security Force (ANSF) troops and 260 civilians were killed in clashes, while the
Afghan Ministry of Defense claimed to have killed 2,146 Taliban fighters In June, the Taliban captured 69 districts from the Afghan government. They entered the cities of
Kunduz and
Puli Khumri and besieged
Mazar-i-Sharif. Among the locations they captured was Afghanistan's main
border crossing with Tajikistan and the
Saydabad District in Maidan Wardak Province, which is called the gateway to Afghanistan's capital city, Kabul. They captured 700 trucks and
Humvees from the Afghan security forces, and dozens of armored vehicles,
Boeing Insitu ScanEagle drones and
artillery systems. An
Afghan Air Force Mil Mi-17 was shot down by the Taliban, killing three pilots, while a
UH-60 Black Hawk was damaged on the ground after an outpost belonging to the
Afghan Armed Forces was shelled by the Taliban in the same month. Eyewitnesses said that the language the Taliban fighters spoke among themselves was foreign, indicating that the fighters were not from the area. During the month, 703 Afghan National Security Forces and 208 civilians were killed in clashes, while the Ministry of Defense claimed to have killed 1,535 Taliban fighters. By the end of June, all
Resolute Support Mission's member countries had withdrawn their troops, except for the UK, Turkey, and the US. meeting with Afghan President
Ashraf Ghani in June 2021 On 22 June, the Taliban captured
Sher Khan Bandar, Afghanistan's main Tajikistan border crossing, and 13 districts fell to them within 24 hours. On the same day, there was heavy fighting in
Baghlan Province when Afghan forces launched an operation on the outskirts of Pul-e-Khumri, the provincial capital, killing 17 Taliban fighters, including Qari Khalid, a Taliban divisional commander. On 23 June, Taliban and Afghan forces clashed inside Pul-e Khumri. On 25 June, the Taliban took control of the
Shinwari District and the
Ghorband District in Parwan Province, north of Kabul. That same day NBC News reported that the Taliban "were surprised at the speed of their advance and had avoided capturing some targets so as not to run afoul of the US", and the Afghan government launched a program called National Mobilization that aimed to arm militia groups to fight the Taliban. Meanwhile, Taliban deputy emir
Sirajuddin Haqqani issued a series of instructions on
Voice of Jihad for the governance of territories seized in the offensive. ''
FDD's Long War Journal'' researcher Thomas Joscelyn argued that Haqqani's statements "read like those that would be issued by the head of a nation". On 29 June, the Taliban launched an offensive on
Ghazni, causing violent clashes within the city.
Escalation In July, the Taliban captured 64 districts from the Afghan government and entered the second and third largest cities of Afghanistan,
Kandahar and
Herat respectively. Subsequent US airstrikes against the Taliban were led from the
Al Udeid Air Base in
Qatar and the
US Navy carrier strike group in the
Persian Gulf, requiring the warplanes to travel several hours to reach their targets. According to a US defence official, these airstrikes amounted to only "a handful" each day. On the first weekend of July, hundreds of armed women took to the streets of northern and central Afghanistan in demonstrations against the Taliban offensive, the largest one taking place in
Chaghcharan, the capital of
Ghor Province. The provincial governor Abdulzahir Faizzada reported in an interview with
The Guardian that many Afghan women, some of whom recently escaped the Taliban, have been learning to use firearms in order to defend themselves, with some having already battled the Taliban. Taliban spokesperson
Zabiullah Mujahid denounced the reports as "
propaganda" and declared that "women will never pick up guns against us". During the weekend, the Taliban captured nine border posts belonging to the Afghan Army in
Kunar Province near the
border with Pakistan, during which 39 personnel of the Afghan Army surrendered to the Taliban while another 31 fled to Pakistan. On 7 July, pro-government forces defeated a Taliban attempt to capture the city of
Qala e Naw. On 8 July, Abubaker Muradi, deputy head of National Directorate of Security (NDS), and Khir Mohammad Arefi, a commander of a territorial army, along with dozens of other security personnel surrendered to the Taliban without a fight. Khan Jan Zafar and Mohammad Farid Akhizai, two members of the provincial council, also surrendered to the Taliban on the same day. and surrounded the city of Ghazni in central Afghanistan. The border crossings of
Torghundi with
Turkmenistan and
Islam Qala with Iran were captured by the Taliban. During the capture of the Islam Qala border crossing, some Afghan security and customs officials fled across the
border with Iran to escape the Taliban. On 11 July, Australian Defence Minister
Peter Dutton announced the end of its military presence in Afghanistan, with the last 80 personnel having left the country in recent weeks. On 12 July, the commander of US and
NATO forces in Afghanistan
Austin S. Miller stepped down from his post. The same day Afghanistan's foreign ministry announced that they have killed Taliban's intelligence chief, Kari Shagasi, and arrested two of his followers in
Logar province.
Reuters Indian journalist
Danish Siddiqui was killed there while covering the fighting two days later. On 12 July, Turkmen President
Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow ordered the deployment of troops, heavy weapons, and armour on the
Afghanistan–Turkmenistan border, to prevent a spillover of the conflict into Turkmenistan. On 16 July, Uzbekistan hosted a conference between a number of the region's leaders and foreign diplomats, including Afghan President Ghani, to promote peace and prevent a civil war. Later that month, the Taliban captured
Wakhan District and so was also in control of the
Afghanistan-China border. On 21 July, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
Mark Milley reported that half of all Afghan districts were under Taliban control and that momentum was "sort of" on the side with the Taliban. On 22 July,
the Pentagon confirmed that the United States Air Force had carried out four airstrikes in Afghanistan at the request of Afghan officials. Two airstrikes were aimed at destroying military equipment captured by the Taliban from Afghan security forces; one artillery gun and one military vehicle were destroyed. On 22 July 100 people were killed in a
mass shooting in Spin Boldak, Kandahar Province. Pro-government forces gained victories in
Bamyan Province, as local militias and the police retook the districts of
Sayghan and
Kahmard from the Taliban, and in Herat Province, where the government recaptured Karakh District. On 25 July, a key Taliban commander, Mufti Ismael, was injured and five of his guards were killed in a mine blast targeting their convoy in Faryab province. The same day around 46 Afghan troops, including 5 officers, sought refuge in Pakistan after they were unable to defend their military post. vowing to "bring the Taliban back into the political mainstream" and offering to host peace talks between the Government of Afghanistan and the Taliban. By 31 July, the Taliban had entered the provincial capitals of both
Helmand and Herat provinces, capturing scores of districts in the provinces and also capturing border crossings with Iran and Turkmenistan. Among others, Herat's important Karakh District was again overrun by the rebels. The insurgents also cut the road between
Herat International Airport and Herat city, although the airport remained under government control. The
Long War Journal argued that the government's ability to keep control of Herat city without the airport supplying the defenders was questionable. Meanwhile, Kandahar city remained contested. After capturing Lashkar Gah's radio station, the Taliban began broadcasting their
Voice of Sharia programming. The rebels also began to attack the city's airport. Meanwhile, the government dispatched reinforcements to prevent the city from falling to the insurgents. On 3 August 13 people—including five attackers—were killed in a Taliban bombing and shootout in Kabul. The
inghimasi-style operation, carried out by the Taliban's "Martyrdom Battalion", aimed at killing Defence Minister
Bismillah Khan Mohammadi; he survived the attack. Mohammadi was described by the
Long War Journal as one of the key government figures responsible for countering the Taliban offensive. On the same day, heavy fighting was reported in
Jowzjan Province as the Taliban entered the provincial capital,
Sheberghan. The Taliban confirmed responsibility for the killing of Minapal and warned that it would target senior administration officials in retaliation for increasing airstrikes. On the same day,
the Taliban captured the provincial capital of
Nimroz Province,
Zaranj, making it the first capture by the Taliban of a provincial capital since the 2001 American invasion. Taliban
executed dozens of captured soldiers in the province, and gouged out eyes of some. The rebels proceeded to open the local prisons, allowing many inmates to escape. As Zaranj had reportedly been captured with almost no resistance, Afghan journalist Bilal Sarwary voiced suspicions that someone had "sold" the city to the Taliban. Social media posts suggested that the Taliban were welcomed by some residents of the city which has a long history of lawlessness. Images appearing on social media showed Taliban fighters driving captured military Humvees, luxury SUVs and pickups through the streets while flying Taliban flags as local residents—mostly youths and young men—cheered them on. A UN envoy also warned the country was entering a 'deadlier phase' of the war. The governments of Britain and United States warned its citizens to leave Afghanistan "immediately" amid the Taliban advance and the worsening security situation. On 7 August, the Taliban had captured Sheberghan, making it the second capture of a provincial capital.
Abdul Rashid Dostum, the ex-warlord and the
strongman who had traditionally dominated the city, took his followers and fled to
Khwaja Du Koh District, the only area in Jowzjan Province which was still government-held. Meanwhile, pro-government forces had been reduced to a pocket of resistance in Lashkar Gah, while Kandahar and Herat remained fiercely contested. Insurgents also launched repeated raids on the other provincial capitals. On the same day, US
B-52 bombers carried out airstrikes against Taliban in Afghanistan, operating from
Al Udeid Air Base in
Qatar. The United States was also using
armed Reaper drones and
AC-130 Spectre gunships which reportedly began daily attacks against targets around Kandahar, Herat, and Lashkar Gah. The
American Embassy in Kabul urged all Americans to leave the country immediately due to increased security concerns, and the inability of the embassy to guarantee the safety of American citizens due to the reduction of staff at the embassy. The following day, the Taliban captured the cities of Kunduz and
Sar-e Pol after heavy clashes with the Afghan National Security Forces. In the battles for the two cities, mass desertions were reported, as many Afghan National Army soldiers had been demotivated by the rapid rebel advance as well as Taliban propaganda. Pro-government forces were only able to hold onto Kunduz's military base and airport. Reporters described the capture of Kunduz as "the most significant gain for the Taliban since they launched their offensive in May" with the city being one of Afghanistan's largest settlements, well connected to other notable locations in the country including Kabul and considered part of a major Central Asian drug smuggling route. The
battle for Kunduz involved the
Red Unit, the Taliban elite shock troops, and resulted in the release of hundreds of prisoners including Taliban commanders. Government forces retreated from the city after noon, retaking
Warsaj District and
Farkhar District. On 9 August, the Taliban captured
Aybak, the capital of
Samangan Province. Deputy governor Sefatullah Samangani told the
AFP news agency that government forces had withdrawn from the city without a fight after community representatives had requested that it be spared more violence. On the same day, Asif Azimi, a former senator from Samangan and a prominent warlord from the
Jamiat-e Islami party, defected to the Taliban. Azimi said hundreds of men under his command had also defected to the Taliban. Fighting intensified around Mazar-i-Sharif on 10 August. In
Farah, capital of
Farah Province, the Taliban had taken control of the governor's compound after heavy fighting between the Taliban and government forces. They had also taken control of the police headquarters and prison. Although heavy fighting continued, Farah became the seventh provincial capital to fall. An eighth provincial capital,
Puli Khumri of
Baghlan Province, was also captured on 10 August. On 11 August,
Fayzabad of
Badakhshan Province became the ninth provincial capital to be captured by the Taliban. After the Taliban reached the city gates, government forces decided to retreat to
Farkhar District and join with security forces there from Taloqan's fall. Prior to the US invasion, Fayzabad had been the headquarters of the
Northern Alliance. On the same day, the Taliban captured
Kunduz Airport and a major military base belonging to 217 Pamir Corps after hundreds of Afghan troops surrendered, securing Taliban control over their military equipment in Kunduz. The military base was responsible for security of Kunduz, Takhar and Badakhshan and was one of the eight such installations in Afghanistan; its fall further reduced the suffering morale of the Afghan National Army, while effectively making a government counter-offensive to relieve Mazar-i-Sharif impossible.
Deutsche Presse-Agentur (dpa) quoted two local councillors who said that the entire
217th Pamir Corps surrendered to Taliban forces in Kunduz. A Taliban spokesman also posted a video on Twitter which purportedly showed government soldiers joining the militants' ranks. The besieged troops of the 217 Pamir Corps had held out for three days before surrendering; much military equipment was captured by the rebels at the base and airport. On 12 August, the Taliban captured the city of
Ghazni, making it the tenth provincial capital to fall within a week. The city lies along the
Kabul–Kandahar Highway, serving as a gateway between Kabul and the strongholds in the south. The Governor of Ghazni Province was soon arrested in
Wardak for "surrendering without a fight" in exchange for safe passage. On the same day, the central government offered a proposal of "power-sharing" in lieu of ceasefire; the Taliban rejected this offer stating that it wanted to establish a new Islamic emirate. The same day also saw the fall of strategic
Shindand Air Base in Herat and capture of two UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters stationed in the Air Base. The
fall of Herat, after two weeks of siege, forced Ismail Khan and other top government officials and forces to seek refuge at a provincial airport and the army corps outside the city. and thousands of government forces also surrendered to the Taliban. By this point, they controlled 11 of Afghanistan's 34 provincial capitals. The Taliban had also launched an assault on
Qala e Naw, capturing the city after failing to do so in July. Overnight,
Kandahar was captured by the Taliban: heavy clashing around the city led to the withdrawal of the
ANA, thus increasing the number of provincial capitals controlled by the Taliban to thirteen. After several weeks of fighting in the
Battle of Lashkargah, the city of
Lashkargah, capital of
Helmand Province, was captured by the Taliban on 13 August. On the same day, the Taliban took control of
Chaghcharan (also called Firozkoh), the capital city of
Ghor Province. Officials said the city fell without any fighting, becoming the fifteenth provincial capital to fall to the Taliban within a week. Firozkoh had a population of nearly 132,000 people. Government loyalists put up a determined defense in Logar before being overrun, while Zabul and Uruzgan were only surrendered to the rebels after the local defenders judged their situation to be untenable and opted to retreat. In contrast, Qalat and Fayroz Koh fell without any fighting. Qalat had been deprived of defenders who had been sent to Kandahar, and Fayroz Koh officials preferred to negiotiate a takeover instead of being "steamrolled by the Taliban offensive". The
Long War Journal argued that the fall of these provincial capitals allowed the Taliban to besiege Kabul, and described the Afghan government as being on the "verge of collapse". in a video conference with Vice President
Harris and the
US National Security team, discussing the situation in Afghanistan on 14 August 2021 On 14 August 2021, the Taliban captured seven provincial capital cities;
Gardez,
Sharana,
Asadabad,
Maymana,
Mihtarlam,
Nili, and
Mazar-i-Sharif, the fourth-largest city in Afghanistan. Two long-time anti-Taliban warlords, namely Dostum and
Atta Muhammad Nur, fled to Uzbekistan. Abas Ebrahimzada, a lawmaker from the
Balkh province, said that in Mazar-i-Sharif, the national army surrendered first which caused the pro-government militia and other forces to lose morale and surrender in the face of Taliban assault on the city. Early on 15 August 2021, the Taliban entered
Jalalabad, the capital of
Nangarhar Province, unopposed. It was the twenty-sixth provincial capital to fall, and its capture left Kabul as the last major city under Afghan government control. Soon afterward, Maidan Shar,
Khost,
Bamyan,
Mahmud-i-Raqi,
Charikar and
Parun Security forces surrendered
Bagram Airfield to the Taliban; the airbase housed around 5,000 Taliban and
Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant prisoners. Also on 15 August, authorities in Uzbekistan detained 84 Afghan soldiers who had crossed the border, and provided medical aid to both the detained soldiers and a group of soldiers which had gathered on the Afghan side of the Termez-Khairaton bridge. On 16 August, the
Khost Protection Force (KPF), a militia unit created by the
CIA in the early years of the US invasion, surrendered to Taliban forces in eastern Afghanistan after attempting to flee to
Paktia Province. According to local journalists cited by
Interfax, about 6,000 KPF in 1,200 vehicles surrendered to the Taliban, with a video of the surrender being posted to social media.
NATO airlifts On 12 August, a few hours after the
fall of Herat, the United States and United Kingdom governments announced the deployment of 3,000 and 600 of their troops, respectively, to the Kabul airport to secure the
airlifting of their nationals, embassy staff, and the Afghan civilians who worked with the coalition forces out of the country. Officials said that the first deployment would occur in the next 24 to 48 hours, and that it would be completed by the end of the month. According to those sources,
charter aircraft were to be used for the evacuation, as the Kabul airport still allowed commercial airliners to fly at the time; military aircraft were to be used if that became impossible. According to the British government, the evacuation and its timing had long been planned, but an Afghan official said that the timing was brought forward as the security situation rapidly deteriorated. In addition to the 3,000 US troops, an additional 3,500 were placed on standby in Kuwait in case the situation escalated to a renewed armed conflict with the Taliban. Canada announced that Canadian special forces units will be deployed to evacuate embassy personnel in Kabul, which houses Afghan families who have worked with Canadian staff in the past. The Danish and Norwegian governments announced that their embassies in Kabul would close for security reasons, and proceeded to evacuate their diplomatic staff and Afghans who worked alongside them.
Fall of Kabul On 15 August, despite issuing a statement saying it had no plans to take the Afghan capital "by force", the Taliban entered the outskirts of Kabul from multiple directions, including
Kalakan District,
Qarabagh District, and
Paghman District. A citywide blackout and possible assault and inmate uprising at
Pul-e-Charkhi prison was reported.
Boeing CH-47 Chinook and
Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters began landing at the American embassy in Kabul to carry out evacuations and diplomats were rapidly shredding
classified documents. The
Afghan interior ministry announced that
President Ghani had decided to relinquish power and an interim government led by the Taliban would be formed; former president
Hamid Karzai was to be part of the negotiation team. The Taliban ordered its fighters to wait for a peaceful transfer of power and to not enter Kabul by force. On 15 August it was reported that President Ghani had left the country for
Tajikistan. Ghani's departure from Afghanistan was criticised by many Afghans and outside observers. Nikita Ishchenko, a spokesperson for Russia's embassy in Kabul, claimed that Ghani fled Afghanistan with four cars and helicopters full of money. Speaking later from the United Arab Emirates, Ghani said he left on the advice of government aides to avoid being lynched (Afghan President
Mohammad Najibullah had been publicly hanged upon the previous Taliban takeover in 1996). He denied reports that he had taken large sums of money with him, noting that he had passed through customs on his arrival in the UAE. It was also considered "unlikely" by the
Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), who nonetheless argues that Ghani took 500.000
US dollars with him while escaping. on 21 August, after the Taliban captured Kabul. Late on 15 August, an
Afghan Air Force Embraer 314 and
Uzbekistan Air Force MiG-29 collided mid-air, with both aircraft crashing in Uzbekistan's
Surxondaryo Region. The pilots of both aircraft ejected and landed with parachutes. Earlier in the day, Uzbekistan said it had detained 84 Afghan soldiers who had crossed the border seeking medical assistance while fleeing the Taliban's offensives. On 16 August, Taliban spokesman Mohammad Naeem said in an interview with
Al Jazeera that war was over in Afghanistan. He said that the Taliban have achieved what they wanted, they will not allow Afghanistan's territory to be used against anyone, nor do they want to harm anyone. On the same day, Uzbekistan's prosecutor general office said that 22 military planes and 24 helicopters carrying around 585 Afghan soldiers had arrived in Uzbekistan. Around 158 Afghan soldiers crossed the Uzbekistan's border on foot. On 23 August, Taliban spokesperson
Suhail Shaheen indicated that they would be unwilling to extend the 31 August deadline for withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan. The same day, the director of the
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA),
William J. Burns, held a secret meeting in Kabul with Taliban leader
Abdul Ghani Baradar, who returned to Afghanistan from exile in Qatar, to discuss the 31 August deadline. ==War crimes==