KABUL, Afghanistan —

       A U.S. peace envoy brought a warning to the Taliban on Tuesday that any government that comes to power through force in Afghanistan won’t be recognized internationally, after a series of cities fell to the insurgent group in stunningly quick succession.

       Zalmay Khalilzad traveled to Doha, Qatar, where the Taliban maintains a political office, to tell the group that there was no point in pursuing victory on the battlefield because a military takeover of Kabul would guarantee they would be global pariahs. He and others hope to persuade Taliban leaders to return to peace talks with the Afghan government as American and NATO forces finish their pullout from the country.

       The insurgents have captured as many as seven out of 34 provincial capitals in the country in less than a week. They are now battling the Western-backed government for control of others, including Lashkar Gah in southern Helmand province and the cities of Kandahar and Farah in the provinces of the same name.

       After a 20-year Western military mission and billions of dollars spent training and shoring up Afghan forces, many officials and observers are at a loss to explain why the government forces have collapsed, fleeing the battle sometimes by the hundreds. The fighting has fallen largely to small groups of elite forces and the Afghan air force.

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       The success of the Taliban blitz has added urgency to the need to restart the long-stalled talks that could end the fighting and move Afghanistan toward an inclusive interim administration.

       The new pressure from Khalilzad follows condemnations from the international community and a similar warning from the United Nations that a Taliban government that takes power by force would not be recognized. The insurgents have so far refused to return to the negotiating table.

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       Stunning speed of Taliban victories ramps up the pressure on Kabul — and Washington

       Taliban fighters have seized several provincial capitals in recent days, marking a ‘deadlier and more destructive phase’ of the war in Afghanistan.

       Khalilzad’s mission in Qatar is to “help formulate a joint international response to the rapidly deteriorating situation in Afghanistan,” according to the U.S. State Department. He will “press the Taliban to stop their military offensive and to negotiate a political settlement, which is the only path to stability and development in Afghanistan,” the State Department said.

       Meanwhile, the Taliban military chief released an audio message to his fighters Tuesday ordering them not to harm Afghan forces and government officials in the territories they conquer. The recording was shared on Twitter by the Taliban spokesman in Doha, Mohammad Naim.

       In the nearly five-minute audio, Mohammad Yaqoob, the son of late Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar, also tells the insurgents to stay out of abandoned homes of government and security officials who have fled, to leave marketplaces open and to protect places of business, including banks.

       It was not immediately clear if Taliban fighters on the ground would heed Yaqoob’s instructions. There have been reports by civilians who have fled Taliban advances of heavy-handed treatment by the insurgents — schools being burned down and repressive restrictions imposed on women.

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       As the U.S. hastens to exit Afghanistan by Aug. 31, women fear a potential return to power by the Taliban and its harsh view of their role in society.

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       There have also been reports of revenge killings in areas where the Taliban has gained control. The insurgents claimed responsibility for killing a comedian in southern Kandahar, assassinating the government’s media chief in Kabul and a bombing that targeted acting Defense Minister Bismillah Khan Mohammadi, an attack that killed eight people. The minister was not harmed in the attack.

       The intensifying war has driven thousands of people to Kabul, and many are living in parks without adequate access to water and other necessities in the summer heat. The fighting has also increased the number of civilian casualties.

       The International Committee of the Red Cross said that its staff had treated more than 4,000 Afghans this month in their 15 facilities across the country, including in Helmand and Kandahar, where Afghan and U.S. airstrikes are trying to blunt the Taliban onslaught.

       “We are seeing homes destroyed, medical staff and patients put at tremendous risk, and hospitals, electricity and water infrastructure damaged,” Eloi Fillion, ICRC’s head of delegation in Afghanistan, said in a statement.

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       Former Afghan president says U.S. leaving country ‘in total disgrace and disaster’

       Afghanistan’s former president said the United States came to his country to fight extremism and bring stability and was leaving having failed at both.

       “The use of explosive weaponry in cities is having an indiscriminate impact on the population,” Fillion added. “Many families have no option but to flee in search of a safer place. This must stop.”

       The lightning speed at which the Taliban has made battlefield gains has lent urgency to the need to restart talks. The surge began in April, when the U.S. and NATO announced that they would end their military presence and bring the last of their troops home. The final date of the withdrawal is Aug. 31, but the U.S. Central Command has said the pullout is already 95% complete.

       On Monday, the U.S. emphasized that the Biden administration now sees the fight as one for Afghan political and military leaders to win or lose.

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       “When we look back, it’s going to come down to leadership and what leadership was demonstrated, or not” by Afghans, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said at a Pentagon news conference. “It’s their country to defend now. It’s their struggle.”

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       Khalilzad, the architect of the peace deal the Trump administration brokered with the Taliban, was expected to hold talks with key players as well as with “multilateral organizations” to see how to restart talks and halt the Taliban onslaught.

       The U.S. envoy will also likely seek a commitment from Afghanistan’s neighbors and the region not to recognize a Taliban government that comes to power by force. When the Taliban last ruled Afghanistan, only three countries recognized their rule: Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

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       Senior Afghan officials may travel to Doha in the coming days, including Abdullah Abdullah, who heads the government’s reconciliation council. Pakistan’s national security advisor, Moeed Yusuf, called Monday for “reinvigorated” efforts to get all sides in the conflict back to talks, describing a protracted war in Afghanistan as a “nightmare scenario” for Pakistan.

       Yusuf, speaking to foreign journalists in Islamabad, refused to say categorically whether Pakistan, which holds considerable sway over the Taliban, would recognize a Taliban government installed by force, saying instead that Pakistan wants to see an “inclusive” government in Kabul.