KABUL — Taliban fighters overran Kunduz city Sunday after besieging the provincial capital for months, the latest advance in a series of strategic gains for the militants in Afghanistan’s north and west.

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       Afghan forces remain in control of a military base near the city’s airport, but Taliban fighters have pushed into the city center, overrunning the main government compounds there, according to Ghulam Rabani Rabani, member of Kunduz provincial council. A handful of local officials have the city center to military base beside Kunduz airport.

       Amr al-Din Wali, another provincial council member speaking form the military base, said Afghan security forces are protecting the area, “but there is no morale.” And he said he doesn’t believe they have a plan to retake the city.

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       The militants also pushed into the capital city of Sar-e Pol province Sunday, but clashes there are still ongoing, according to deputy governor Abdul Malik Azimi who spoke on the phone from a military base on the city’s outskirts.

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       The Taliban advances come just days after the militants overran the first provincial capital in the country since the withdrawal of U.S. forces began. Taliban fighters overran the capital of Nimruz on Friday and then the following day pushed into Shebergan, the capital of the northwestern province of Jowzjan.

       All four provinces where Taliban fighters are making gains sit along the country’s border and are home to key crossings where tax revenue could be financially profitable to the group.