Afghan officials say the Taliban has taken another provincial capital, the southern city of Kandahar in the province with the same name.

It is the 12th provincial capital out of Afghanistan’s 34 that the insurgents have taken in their week-long blitz that swept over much of the country.

Kandahar is also the second-largest city in the entre country.

The officials said Kandahar fell on Thursday night and that government officials and their entourage managed to flee to the airport to escape the city by air.

The earlier seizure of Herat marked one of the biggest prizes yet for the Taliban.

Fighters rushed past the Great Mosque in the historic city — which dates to 500 BC and was once a spoil of Alexander the Great — and seized government buildings.

Witnesses described hearing sporadic gunfire at one government building while the rest of the city fell silent under the insurgents’ control.

The capture of Ghazni, meanwhile, cuts off a crucial highway linking the Afghan capital with the country’s southern provinces, which similarly find themselves under assault as part of an insurgent push some 20 years after US and Nato troops invaded and ousted the Taliban government.

While Kabul itself is not directly under threat yet, the losses and the battles elsewhere further tighten the grip of a resurgent Taliban, who are estimated to now hold over two-thirds of the country and are continuing to pressure government forces in several other provincial capitals.

With security rapidly deteriorating, the United States was sending in 3,000 troops to help evacuate some personnel from the US Embassy in Kabul.

Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said one Army and two Marine infantry battalions will enter Afghanistan within the next two days to assist at the Kabul airport with the partial embassy evacuation.

Separately, Britain said about 600 troops would be deployed on a short-term basis to support British nationals leaving the country.

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

Peace talks in Qatar remain stalled, though diplomats met throughout the day.