RAMPAGING Taliban militants stormed TV and radio stations as they tightened their grip on a key Afghan city once home to a British headquarters.
Terrified residents in Lashkar Gah, the capital of Helmand province, said the insurgents had captured nine out of ten urban districts.
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Afghan special forces patrol a deserted street during fighting with Taliban fighters in Lashkar Gah, Helmand province Credit: AP
It prompted calls in Britain for an inquiry into what went wrong in the 20-year war.
Former Foreign Secretary Lord Hague said Afghanistan was doomed to face a civil war or be ruled by a Taliban government “that will have links with al-Qaeda”.
The former Tory leader said “we have to learn some lessons” from the botched ￡40billion campaign which cost 457 soldiers’ lives.
The Taliban have seized more than half the countryside since US President Biden ordered an abrupt withdrawal of troops, against the advice of British allies.
The battle for Lashkar Gah is the closest they have come to seizing a provincial capital.
Only the governor’s compound, the prison and the police headquarters were holding out last night.
And the only source of broadcast news was the Taliban’s Voice of Sharia radio after the militants shut down four TV and 14 local radio stations.
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Desperate Afghan commanders were forced to use loud hailers to tell residents to flee the city ahead of a last-ditch mission expected to blitz entire neighbourhoods.
General Sami Sadat, commander of Afghanistan’s UK-trained 215 Corps, vowed: “We will not leave a single Taliban alive.”
Insurgents have also launched coordinated attacks against the cities of Kandahar and Herat.
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Former Tory leader William Hague said 'we have to learn some lesson' from the botched ￡40billion campaign which cost 457 soldiers’ lives Credit: PA
Taliban slaughters dozens of civilians in 24-hour onslaught in major city as Afghan troops warn families ‘get out now’