Zaranj Becomes First Afghan Provincial Capital to Fall to Taliban

KABUL - The first Afghan city fell to the Taliban Friday when the militants overran Zaranj, the provincial capital of Nimruz in southwestern Afghanistan, bordering Iran.   Already seeing journalists mischaracterize Zaranj, which fell to the Taliban. It is an isolated town in the remote southwestern province of Nimroz, not a “major city” nor even a “city” at all. That said, it is a commercial hub that has strategic and economic value. #Sheberghan has been cleared of the terrorists. #ANDSF and Public Uprising Forces inflicted heavy casualties to #Taliban and the death bodies remained on the streets and alleys of the city. Taliban will be defeated in #Nimruz as well. pic.twitter.com/c8LmFS0TJq

Haji Nabi Barahwe, the deputy provincial governor, confirmed to VOA the Taliban has captured the city, and Afghan security forces have retreated to the Delaram district of Nimruz province.     "Zaranj city fell into Taliban's hands," Haji Nabi Barahawe told VOA. "The Taliban took control of the office of the governor. Afghan security forces are scattered. Forces from the National Directorate of Security fought the Taliban for an hour. Currently, the government forces control only Chahar Burjak district."     He did not say whether the NDS forces surrendered or retreated and he added that the  Taliban have control over three of the five districts in the province.   Separately, the Taliban assassinated the Afghan government’s top media officer Friday in Kabul.   Dawa Khan Menapal, head of the Government Media and Information Center, was targeted in a high-security zone of the Afghan capital.     The Taliban, in a brief statement sent to media, took responsibility for the attack, the latest in a series of assassinations of senior government officials carried out by the insurgents.     Acting U.S. Ambassador in Kabul Ross Wilson denounced the killing of Menapal.     “We are saddened & disgusted by the Taliban’s targeted killing of Dawa Khan Meenapal, a friend and colleague, whose career was focused on providing truthful information to all Afghans about #Afghanistan," Wilson wrote on Twitter. “These murders are an affront to Afghans’ human rights & freedom of speech.”