Taliban strengthens its grip on the south as mass evacuation of foreign nationals is underway

US officials think capital of Kabul could now fall in 30 to 90 days

The Taliban has continued its gains across Afghanistan capturing the cities of Kandahar, Lashkar Gah as an international evacuation effort gets under way.

Officials there say that Afghanistan’s second biggest city Kandahar fell on Thursday night but that government officials made it to their airport before fleeing to safety.

And the loss of Helmand’s provincial capital of Lashkar Gah comes after years of toil and blood spilled by US, UK and allied Nato forces.

The insurgents have also captured the capital of Zabul province as their offensive in the south gradually encircles the government in the capital, Kabul.

The Taliban have taken more than a dozen provincial capitals in recent days and now control more than two-thirds of the country, just weeks before the US plans to withdraw its last troops.

As thousands of Afghan civilians flee to the capital in Kabul, the World Food Programme has warned of “dire” food shortages

The rapidly deteriorating security situation has prompted an international scramble to evacuate country nationals from Afghanistan.

The United States announced that it will send in 3,000 troops to help evacuate personnel from the US Embassy in Kabul.

The Pentagon says that one Army and two Marine infantry battalions will enter Afghanistan within the next two days to assist at the Kabul airport with the partial evacuation.

Hundreds of Marines are already on the ground of the embassy complex in Kabul and are responsible for evacuating the embassy, which has a staff of 4.000 – including 1.400 Americans.

Washington has also warned Taliban leaders directly that the US would respond if the Taliban attacked Americans during the temporary US military deployments.

Great Britain has said it will also send 600 troops into the country to help support British nationals as they leave.

Germany’s foreign minister, Heiko Maas, said his country is reducing its embassy staff in the capital to “the operationally necessary, absolute minimum”.

Norway’s foreign minister announced its foreign embassy in Kabul was closing, and Denmark’s foreign minister was quoted by DV2 as saying their embassy in Kabul was being evacuated.

Nato secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg and 30 national ambassadors are meeting in Brussels, according to an official.

“Allies are constantly consulting on the situation on Afghanistan,” the official said, adding that Mr Stoltenberg was “in regular contact with allies and the Afghan authorities”.

Canadian special forces will deploy to Afghanistan to help Canadian staff leave Kabul, a source told the Associated Press, without specifying how many.

Australia is working urgently to evacuate the last Afghans who helped its troops and diplomats, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Friday.

US military officials have told the White House that they believe Kabul could be overrun by the Taliban in as little as 30 to 90 days, officials told The Washington Post.

That is far quicker than an initial US projection that it could take between six and 12 months for that to occur.

The Taliban took Kandahar in the 1990s after claiming the country as an Islamic state, but were forced out when US troops invaded the country in 2001.

The city’s airport was a main base for US and NATO troops, before being handed back to the Afghanistan government in May.

Earlier this week Joe Biden said he did not regret his administration’s decision to pull out of Afghanistan and end the 20-year campaign there, a move which will be completed by 31 August.

“I do not regret my decision. We spent over a trillion dollars, over 20 years. We trained and equipped with modern equipment over 300,000 Afghan forces ... they’ve got to fight for themselves,” he said.