[ The Guardian ] Taliban on brink of taking key Afghan city as residents told to flee

Taliban fighters appeared to be on the brink of overrunning the key Afghan provincial capital of Lashkar Gah, as officials confirmed all but one district of the city was under the hardline Islamists’ control and residents were ordered to evacuate.

Majid Akhund, the deputy chairman of the Helmand provincial council, said the Taliban had taken control of nine Lashkar Gah districts, as the Afghan government and US aircraft pounded their positions with strikes.

Gen Sami Sadat, an Afghan commander leading the military efforts in Helmand, told residents to flee. “Please leave as soon as possible so that we can start our operation,” he said in a message to the city of 200,000 people. “I know it is very difficult for you to leave your houses – it is hard for us too – but if you are displaced for a few days, please forgive us. We are fighting the Taliban wherever they are … We will not leave a single Talib alive.”

Lashkar Gah is one of three provincial capitals under siege by the Taliban as they stepped up their onslaught against government forces.

Fida Mohammad, a tribal elder, told the Guardian: “The situation is appalling. The Taliban are climbing all the high-rise buildings in the centre of the city and setting up fortifications, then being bombed by the government.”

A resident of Lashkar Gah told Agence France-Presse on condition of anonymity: “The Taliban are everywhere in the city, you can see them on motorcycles in the streets. They are arresting or shooting people who have smartphones. The Taliban are in the people’s houses and the government is bombing them. About 20 houses in my neighbourhood have been bombed, they are fighting street-to-street battles.”

The loss of Lashkar Gah would be a massive strategic and psychological blow for the government, which has promised to defend cities at all costs after losing much of the rural countryside to the Taliban over the summer.