New Delhi: The Taliban captured a provincial capital near Kabul on Thursday, the 10th the insurgents have taken over a weeklong blitz across Afghanistan as the US and NATO prepare to withdraw entirely from the country after decades of war. The militants raised their white flags imprinted with a famous Islamic proclamation over the city of Ghazni, just 130 kilometers (80 miles) southwest of Kabul.

The Sporadic fighting continued at an intelligence base and an army installation outside the city, two local officials told The Associated Press.

The Taliban published videos and images online showing them in Ghazni, the capital of Ghazni province.

Afghan security forces and the government have not responded to repeated requests for comment over the days of fighting.

However, President Ashraf Ghani is trying to rally a counteroffensive relying on his country’s special forces, the militias of warlords and American airpower ahead of the US and NATO withdrawal at the end of the month.

While the capital of Kabul itself has not been directly threatened in the advance, the stunning speed of the offensive raises questions of how long the Afghan government can maintain control of the slivers of the country it has left.

‘Kabul could fall to Taliban as early as a month’

US intelligence officials believe that the Taliban can topple the Afghan capital Kabul, sooner than they expected previously. The officials on the condition of anonymity told The Washington Post that they had predicted the collapse of Kabul from six to 12 months after the foreign troops’ withdrawal but everything has changed and the time has come to be three months now, as per Afghan media reports.

The pace at which the Taliban are gaining territories is surprising and some predict that the capital could even by collapsed in a span of one month.

The latest US intelligence assessment said Kabul could fall to militants as early as a month, officials said.

US officials now worry that Afghan civilians, soldiers and others will flee the city ahead of a Taliban assault, The Wall Street Journal reported.

US military officials acknowledged that nothing is moving in the right direction in Afghanistan and the security situation is way worse than it was in June.

First Army corps falls to Taliban in two decades

The Taliban have toppled the 217th Pamir Army corps situated in the airport of Afghanistan’s Kunduz province for the first time in the past two decades.

The fighters in broadcasted video claim to have taken a chopper of Afghan army which seems to be out of work, media reports said.

Video clips from Kunduz province show that tens of Afghan forces also surrendered to the Taliban along with rangers and Humvees.

Meanwhile, the fighters have also taken control of another airport in Sheberghan city of Jawzjan province.

Both the northern provinces along with the rest of provinces in the zone have fallen to the Taliban but the strategic Balkh province.

(With agency inputs)