Taliban seize stronghold of warlord Abdul Rashid Dostum

The Taliban seized the stronghold of a notorious Afghan warlord, officials said, the second provincial capital to fall to the insurgents in under 24 hours, AFP reported.

The deputy governor of Jawzjan province told AFP 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 on Saturday in an attempt to persuade the country’s leader to fly in reinforcements, AFP reported.

“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 insurgents, 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 Friday, three days after the defense minister survived an assassination attempt.