New York Times finally paying attention, putting the Afghanistan map on their front page.
Prisoners held in Aybak, Samangan prison were also freed by Taliban.
War in Afghanistan map for August 8, 2021.
With Eid and Doha in the rearview mirror, Taliban assaults picked up drastically again. I haven’t posted a district-level map in some time because few districts changed hands during this time. The fighting has largely been over provincial capitals, and despite looking for them, unfortunately I don’t have city-level maps, so I can’t easily track those movements.
This phase started with Taliban assaults on Herat and Kandahar cities which were rebuffed and escalated into a major assault on Lashkargah, Helmand. The city nearly fell, but Kabul mobilized to reinforce it with Biden’s assistance, who finally woke up from his sleepytime nap.
Biden invoked his B-52 and AC-130 “over-the-horizon” strategy to bomb cities, which for whatever reason he claimed he couldn’t do when the Taliban were seizing abandoned outposts, vehicles, and weapons, probably because he was still sleeping.
In any case, Taliban took advantage of Kabul being mired in Kandahar city and Lashkargah, Helmand, and seized the provincial capitals of Zaranj, Sheberghan, Kunduz, Saripul, and Taloqan.
The five lions, i.e. Massoud’s Panjshir militia with Massoud Jr. at the helm, undusted Russian hardware, tanks and mobile rocket launchers that they’d been hiding since the 80s/90s, so here we are now.
Previous map.
https://www.methylated.net/2021/07/19/war-in-afghanistan-map-for-july-18-2021/
Taliban assault on Fayzabad, Badakhshan expected next. Ultimatums have been issued.
Two IED blasts in Quetta, Pakistan. Taliban and ANDSF are both mad at Pakistan.
Massoud Jr.’s militia from Panjshir captured Warsaj, Takhar, and with ANDSF in Farkhar, Takhar, the next phase of the Taloqan battleground now looks like this.
The Panjshir militia brought out of retirement several Russian T-55 tanks and even more Russian BM-21 truck mounted rocket launchers that they’d been holding onto since the 80s/90s, so this battlefront will likely heat up even more.