The Taliban began on Tuesday August 10 to tighten the noose on Mazar-i-Sharif, the largest city in northern Afghanistan, a region from which civilians were fleeing en masse before their apparently inevitable advance.
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If Mazar-i-Sharif, a historic city and commercial crossroads, were to fall in turn, the government would no longer have any control over the north of the country, a region which has traditionally been fiercely opposed to the Taliban. It was there that they encountered the fiercest opposition when they came to power in the 1990s. The Northern Alliance had found refuge in the Northeast to lead the resistance when they ruled the country, between 1996 and 2001.
The rapidly advancing Taliban now control five of the nine provincial capitals in the north - six of 34 in total across the country - and fighting is ongoing in the other four.
Violence has forced tens of thousands of civilians to flee their homes across the country in recent weeks, with the Taliban accused of numerous atrocities in places just under their control.
“
They beat and loot,
” said Rahima, a woman who is now camping with hundreds of people in a park in Kabul after fleeing Sheberghan province.
“
If there is a young girl or a widow in a family, they take them by force.
We fled to protect our honor,
”she added.
A very strict version of Islamic law
When in power, the Taliban imposed their very strict version of Islamic law. Women were banned from going out without a male chaperone and from working, and girls from going to school. Women accused of crimes such as adultery were whipped and stoned to death.
On Tuesday, calm returned to the center of Kunduz, according to residents interviewed by AFP.
The Taliban no longer patrolled the streets, where shops and restaurants had reopened.
However, the clashes continued around the airport which remained in the hands of government forces.
“
People are opening their stores and their businesses.
But you can still see the fear in their eyes.
The situation is very uncertain, fighting can reappear in the city at any time,
”said Habibullah, a trader.
Read also: The countries bordering Afghanistan anticipate a victory for the Taliban
In Kandahar and Lashkar Gah, two historic strongholds of the insurgents they are trying to recapture, civilians remained trapped in the fighting. Three have been killed and 20 injured, including women and children, in the past 24 hours, Mirwais Hospital in Kandahar said. In Lashkar Gah, the hospitals of the Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) and Emergency NGOs were hit by a shelling, with no injuries, MSF said on Twitter on Monday evening.