KABUL — As Ghazni’s capital fell to the Taliban on Thursday amid days of sweeping territorial gains by militants, the province’s governor was arrested while fleeing, according to a spokesman for the Afghan Interior Ministry.

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       Ghazni is the 10th provincial capital to fall to the Taliban in less than a week. The city — about 80 miles southwest of Afghanistan’s capital, Kabul — had been under siege by the militants for over three months.

       Videos circulating on social media appeared to show Ghazni’s governor being escorted out of the province by Taliban fighters. The videos showed Mohammad Dawood Laghmani riding in a convoy of armored vehicles through Taliban checkpoints in territory under the militants’ control.

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       As the Taliban expands its control across the country, fears are growing among Afghans that surrender deals made between government and military leaders and the Taliban will only fuel the militants’ advances. Many districts and a handful of provincial capitals fell to the fighters with little to no resistance.

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       On Wednesday, in the country’s north, hundreds of Afghan forces surrendered after a deal was brokered between Taliban leaders and commanders at a base on the edge of Kunduz city. The troops handed over dozens of Humvees and weapons in a move that allowed the Taliban to consolidate its control of the north.

       "The Afghanistan Papers" author Craig Whitlock explains how presidents misled the public about the war in Afghanistan for nearly two decades. (Joy Yi/The Washington Post)

       An Interior Ministry spokesman, Mirwais Stanikzai, said Ghazni’s governor was arrested by the Afghan government for abandoning his provincial capital without a fight and for allowing the militants to drive him out of the province.

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       A senior Interior Ministry official said the Taliban runs a recruitment team that reaches out to Afghan officials, pushing them to join the militants.

       “One of the main reasons we lost so much ground is the cooperation of officials with the Taliban,” he said, speaking on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to disclose such information to the news media.

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       “We suspect a long list of governors who might have Taliban ties.”

       The Taliban’s military blitz across the country does not appear to be slowing. Also Thursday, Taliban fighters pushed farther into the southern city of Kandahar. The group overran the city’s prison Wednesday, and clashes are continuing in the city center.

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       On Tuesday, the militants overran the capitals of Badakhshan in the north, Farah in the west and Baghlan, a five-hour drive north of Kabul.

       Afghan government control has shrunk to less than a third of the country’s territory. And while the United States is continuing to support Afghan forces with airstrikes, the withdrawal of foreign troops is set to conclude within weeks.

       Read more:

       Hundreds of Afghan forces surrender in Kunduz as Taliban consolidates hold on country’s north

       Pace of Taliban advance quickens as militants overrun three major cities in a single day

       Taliban fighters overrun an Afghan provincial capital for the first time since withdrawal of foreign forces