The Taliban have captured two major Afghan cities, Kandahar and Lashkar Gah, the country’s second- and third-largest after Kabul, a senior security source told news agency Agence France Presse on Friday, confirming a claim by the insurgents. This would leave the Afghan government with capital city Kabul and pockets of other territory.

Military and government officials had evacuated the city after striking a deal with the militants, the security source told AFP.

Kandahar is completely conquered. The Mujahideen reached Martyrs’ Square in the city, a Taliban spokesman tweeted on an officially recognised account.

With peace talks stalled, violence in Afghanistan has escalated sharply as the insurgent group makes rapid territorial gains.  10 provincial capitals have fallen to the Taliban over the last week, the latest being Ghazni, just 130 kilometers southwest of Kabul. Seizing Ghazni cuts off a crucial highway linking the Afghan capital with the country’s southern provinces. A recent US intelligence report had said that the Taliban could isolate Kabul in the next 30 days, and complete a takeover in 90.

The Pentagon announced it would send three battalions, about 3,000 soldiers, to Kabul’s international airport within 24 to 48 hours of the announcement on Thursday. The UK said it would send 600 troops, and the defence secretary, Ben Wallace, said Britain was relocating its embassy from the outskirts of the secure Green Zone to a potentially safer location closer to the centre of the capital.

Read Also: Pakistan PM Imran Khan says Taliban won’t negotiate as long as Ashraf Ghani remains Afghanistan President

Afghanistan witnessed a series of terror attacks in the last few weeks as the United States looked to complete the withdrawal of its forces from Afghanistan by August-end, ending a nearly two-decade of its military presence in the war-ravaged country. President Joe Biden determined to end the war by September 11.

In other India news, Radhika Apte, who is known to be the face of Netflix is hitting headlines

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Indian photojournalist Danish Siddiqui has been killed in a Taliban attack in Spin Boldak district in Kandahar, Afghanistan on Friday. The Reuters photographer was embedded with the Afghan forces, who were taking on the Taliban in their attempt to snatch the vital border crossing with Pakistan which had been overrun by the fundamentalist militia.

Afghanistan-based Tolo News tweeted that Danish Siddiqui, a Reuters photojournalist, was killed in clashes in Spin Boldak district in Kandahar. The Indian journalist was covering the situation in Kandahar over the last few days, the tweet added.

Condoling Siddiqui’s demise, Farid Mamundzay, the Afghanistan Ambassador to India, tweeted: “Deeply disturbed by the sad news of the killing of a friend, Danish Seddiqi in Kandahar last night. The Indian Journalist & winner of the Pulitzer Prize was embedded with Afghan security forces. I met him 2 weeks ago before his departure to Kabul. Condolences to his family & Reuters.”

Danish Siddiqui had shared a Twitter thread on his work in Afghanistan three days ago. He shared visuals of the Taliban attacking a car he was travelling in. “The Humvee in which I was travelling with other special forces was also targeted by at least 3 RPG rounds and other weapons. I was lucky to be safe and capture the visual of one of the rockets hitting the armor plate overhead,” Danish had written on July 13. 

Siddiqui has covered the Battle of Mosul (2016–17), the April 2015 Nepal earthquake, the refugee crisis arising from the Rohingya genocide in 2018 which won him the Pulitzer, the 2019–2020 Hong Kong protests, 2020 Delhi Riots, and the Covid-19 pandemic among other stories in South Asia, Middle East, and Europe. In 2018, he became the first Indian alongside colleague Adnan Abidi to win the Pulitzer Prize for documenting the Rohingya crisis. During Covid times, Siddiqui had framed a photo of burning pyres in East Delhi from atop a terrace nearby upon zooming into which more such pyres could be seen.

He had been viciously trolled for his images showing the true picture in Delhi as compared to the prevalent airbrushed all-is-well image vis-a-vis Covid-19 management. The trolls didn’t leave even Siddiqui’s death unmolested, they are busy sharing the picture of his dead body now, mocking the brave journalism he practiced.

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In other India news, Veteran actor Surekha Sikri who was best known for her role in Balika Vadhu has died on Friday 

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