Alwaght- Taliban Militants have seized Afghanistan's Herat and Kandahar, second- and third-biggest cities, triggering fear that an assault on the capital Kabul could be just days away.
A government official confirmed that Kandahar, the economic hub of the south, was under Taliban control as US-led international forces complete their withdrawal after 20 years of war.
Herat in the west also fell to the militant group.
Residents in Herat and Kandahar say they cannot believe how quickly both cities fell after the Taliban’s weeks-long effort to take two of Afghanistan’s largest cities.
“They literally sold us out, there was no government resistance,” one female resident of Kandahar told Al Jazeera, fighting back tears late on Thursday evening.
"The city looks like a frontline, a ghost town," provincial council member Ghulam Habib Hashimi said by telephone from the city of about 600,000 people near the border with Iran.
A US defense official said there was concern that the could make a move on Kabul within days.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned that "Afghanistan is spinning out of control" and urged all parties to do more to protect civilians.
"This is the moment to halt the offensive. This is the moment to start serious negotiation. This is the moment to avoid a prolonged civil war, or the isolation of Afghanistan," Guterres told reporters in New York.
The Taliban has taken control of 18 of Afghanistan’s 34 provincial capitals since August 6.
