The Taliban on Friday captured three more provincial capitals in Afghanistan, including Lashkar Gah in Helmand, as the insurgents continue their lightning offensive to take control of the country — and the US plans to send in troops to help evacuate embassy staff in the capital of Kabul.

Attaullah Afghan, head of the provincial council in Helmand, said the Taliban captured Lashkar Gah after heavy fighting, while three national army bases outside of Helmand Province’s capital remain under government control.

Atta Jan Haqbayan, the provincial council chief in Zabul province, said the local capital of Qalat fell to the Taliban and that officials are in a nearby army camp preparing to evacuate.

Two lawmakers in southern Uruzgan province, Bismillah Jan Mohammad and Qudratullah Rahimi, said local officials have surrendered the provincial capital, Tirin Kot, to the rapidly advancing Taliban. Mohammad said the governor was en route to the airport to depart for Kabul.

The latest advances came hours after the insurgents captured the country’s second and third largest cities, Kandahar – birthplace of the Taliban — and Herat, in their relentless advance.  

Kabul isn’t directly under threat yet, but the losses and battles in other parts of the country further tighten the grip of a resurgent Taliban, who are estimated to now hold over two-thirds of the country.

The US planned to send in 3,000 troops to help evacuate some personnel from the US Embassy in Kabul.

Meanwhile, Britain said about 600 troops would be deployed on a short-term basis to support UK nationals leaving the country, and Canada is sending special forces to help evacuate its diplomatic office.

Thousands of Afghans have fled their homes amid fears the insurgents will once again impose a brutal, repressive government, all but eradicating women’s rights and conducting public executions.

“We demand an immediate end to attacks against cities, urge a political settlement, and warn that a government imposed by force will be a pariah state,” said Zalmay Khalilzad, the US envoy to stalled peace talks in Qatar.

On Friday, Fazel Haq Ehsan, head of the provincial council in the western Ghor province, said the Taliban had entered the capital of Feroz Koh and that there was fighting inside the city.

The Taliban also claimed to have captured Qala-e Naw, capital of the western Badghis province, though there was no official confirmation.

The insurgents also are on the move in Logar province, just south of Kabul, where they claim to have seized the police headquarters in the provincial capital of Puli-e Alim as well as a nearby prison.  

According to the latest US military intelligence assessment, Kabul could come under insurgent pressure within 30 days — and the Taliban could gain full control of the war-torn country within a few months.

The government may be forced to pull back to defend the imperiled capital and just a few other cities in the coming days if the Taliban maintain their momentum.

Government officials and Afghan security forces have not responded to questions from journalists, instead issuing video messages that have downplayed the Taliban offensive.

Bill Roggio, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said the Afghan army has been rife with corruption and mismanagement, leaving poorly equipped troops with little motivation to fight.

The Taliban, meanwhile, have spent a decade seizing large swaths of the country, positioning themselves to rapidly take over vital infrastructure and urban areas once President Joe Biden announced the withdrawal of US troops.

The difficulty of moving forces out to the provinces means the government is likely to focus all its efforts on defending Kabul.

“Whatever forces are left or remaining that are in the Kabul area and the provinces around them, they’re going to be used for the defense of Kabul,” Roggio said. “Unless something dramatically changes, and I don’t see how that’s possible, these provinces will remain under Taliban control.”

In Herat, the insurgents rushed past the Great Mosque, a structure that dates to 500 BC and was once a spoil of Alexander the Great. Witnesses described hearing sporadic gunfire at one government building.

The historic city had been under militant attack for two weeks, with one wave blunted by the arrival of warlord Ismail Khan and his forces. But on Thursday afternoon, the Taliban broke through the city’s defenses and later claimed they were in control.

In Kandahar, the Taliban seized the governor’s office and other buildings, according to witnesses, who said the governor and other officials caught a flight to Kabul. They declined to be named publicly as the defeat has yet to be acknowledged by the government.

The Taliban had earlier attacked a prison in Kandahar and freed inmates inside, officials said.

Helmand Province lawmaker Nasima Niazi criticized ongoing airstrikes targeting the area, saying civilians likely had been wounded and killed.

“The Taliban used civilian houses to protect themselves, and the government, without paying any attention to civilians, carried out airstrikes,” she said.

Aviation-tracking data suggested that US Air Force B-52 bombers, F-15 fighter jets, drones and other aircraft were involved in the fighting across the country, according to Australia-based security firm The Cavell Group.

US Central Command has acknowledged carrying out several airstrikes, without providing details or commenting on the concerns over civilian casualties, while the UN refugee agency warned that civilians in southern Afghanistan faced cut-off highways and mobile phone outages.

It described aid groups as being unable to determine how many people had fled as intense fighting and airstrikes continued there.

The agency called on Afghanistan’s neighbors to keep borders open as Taliban advances heightened the country’s crisis.

“An inability to seek safety may risk innumerable civilian lives. UNHCR stands ready to help national authorities scale up humanitarian responses as needed,” a spokesperson for the agency told a briefing in Geneva, according to Reuters.

The World Food Programme sees food shortages in Afghanistan as “quite dire” and worsening, a spokesperson said, adding that the situation had all the hallmarks of a humanitarian catastrophe.

With Post wires

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