Ghazni Guv arrested for handing over province to Taliban

The Ministry of Interior Affairs said that the Governor along with his deputy and chief of staff have been arrested and disarmed in Wardak province, according to media reports. 

Laghmani was let go and escorted by the Taliban from Ghazni to Wardak. 

Mirwais Stanikzai, spokesperson of the Ministry, said that parts of Ghazni have fallen to the Taliban, while Afghan forces are still active in other parts of the provincial capital and will launch operations against the fighters. 

Taliban spokesperson Zabiullah Mujahid confirmed Ghazni province had fallen to the fighters on Thursday but Ghazni city had been in the Taliban's siege for months and sources in the province said that the Afghan government was controlling only the provincial office and few governmental facilities in the central city. 

Meanwhile, the governor of Farah province along with the mayor of Farah city and other local officials have surrendered to the Taliban and then fled to neighbouring Iran, the media reports said. 

Earlier, the head of the provincial council of Jawzjan province had also joined the Taliban along with his 12 gunmen. 

The Taliban have toppled more than 10 provinces in a seven-day span as the head of HCNR Abdullah Abdullah is busy talking with the representatives of the US, Russia, China, and Pakistan in Doha to seek a political settlement to the conflicts. 

He is said to be asking the countries to press the Taliban to stop attacking major cities and expedite intra-Afghan talks.