The Taliban are most definitely on the move, and are fighting it out with Afghan forces in several parts of the country. Just days after taking over an entire district in the northwestern province of Faryab, fighters have now captured the district's security chief and surrounded an Afghan Army base with several hundred soldiers.
While the fighting in the north and west is as widespread as it has been since the U.S. invasion in 2001, newly emboldened Taliban forces are making a push in the south as well, overrunning checkpoints near Lashkar Gah, the provincial capital of southern Helmand Province. "Helmand's capital appears to be under serious military pressure," a Western official told Reuters. "We're hearing reports about civilians fleeing in large numbers." There is also new fighting in the western Herat province near the Shindand air base.
The assaults across the country come just as new Taliban leader Mullah Akhtar Mansour consolidates his grip on power after a contentious start to his reign, where some Taliban leaders questioned his authority to lead in the wake of public revelations of the death of the legendary founder of the group, Mullah Omar.
