The Taliban captured the city of Zaranj, the capital of Nimruz province, next to the Iranian border in the southwest of Afghanistan. Above all, Zaranj mattered because it was the first provincial capital to fall to the Taliban. Its fall turned out to be the beginning of the end. Over the nine days that followed, all the other provincial capitals fell as government forces collapsed.
Friday 6 August 2021
Edited extract from Kabul: Final Call by Laurie Bristow.