Afghanistan crisis live updates: Taliban sweep across Afghanistan's south; take 4 more cities

India, several other nations reaffirm not to recognise govt imposed through use of force in Afghanistan

NATO envoys to meet Friday on Afghanistan, reports AFP quoting sources

Germany will reduce its embassy staff in Kabul to the bare minimum and increase security measures at the compound: Foreign Minister Heiko Maas (AFP)

The UN agency for humanitarian affairs 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.

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

The Taliban now control more than two-thirds of the country just weeks before the US plans to withdraw its last troops. While the capital of Kabul isn't directly under threat yet, the losses and advances elsewhere further tighten the grip of a resurgent Taliban

The insurgents have taken half of the country's 34 provincial capitals in recent days, including its second- and third-largest cities, Herat and Kandahar.

In the south, the insurgents swept through the capitals of Zabul and Uruzgan provinces, in addition to Helmand's.