News has emerged that the Taliban, which is taking control of a series of cities in Afghanistan, has taken over a prison in Kandahar, the second-largest city there, and released hundreds of prisoners.
Although the Taliban said they had taken control of the prison, it has yet to be independently confirmed.
According to the International Red Cross, "fighting continues on the street" of the city, located in the southern part of the country.
The Afghan government dismissed the army chief there Wednesday amid escalating violence.
The Taliban, which has so far controlled 9 of the 34 provincial capitals, is also trying to capture Kandahar.
According to the Red Cross, people are being evacuated from that southern city in Afghanistan.
There have been double the number of civilians injured within a week.
Army chief dismissed
The Afghan government Wednesday dismissed Wali Mohammad Ahmadzai, the army chief thereafter the Taliban seized the provincial capitals of Afghanistan in a series of attacks.
He was appointed to the post last June.
His successor will have to deal with increased violence across the country and Taliban power.
The Taliban has stepped up its control after u.S. and other foreign troops, which have been in Afghanistan for 20 years, have left.
In the past month alone, 1,000 civilians have been killed there, according to the United Nations.
The northern Afghan city of Mazar-e-Sharif, which has traditionally been anti-Taliban, has also been hit by Taliban attacks.
President Sharif Ghani had arrived in the city Wednesday to join a Riyadh to encourage pro-government troops.
President Ghani had held talks with the Uzbek ethnic group's war chief and the local influential leader of the Tajik ethnic group about saving the city while he was there.
For years, President Ghani had disenchanted the war chiefs of the Afghan ethnic group as an attempt to bolster the national army.
But the BBC correspondent has said he has returned for their help when they are now in need.
Meanwhile, hundreds of government troops in the nearby town of Kunduz have surrendered to fighters at the airport there.
U.S. President Joe Biden had said he did not regret his decision to return U.S. troops from the country this week.
Yet Biden had called on Afghan leaders to be united 'to fight for their country.]
'Taliban control in Kabul within 90 days
U.S. and Afghan vessels are under airstrikes in areas that are under Taliban control to fight the group.
Wednesday, the Washington Post magazine published news that the capital Kabul could go under Taliban control within 90 days, citing unnamed officials.
The news was said to have been published based on U.S. troop assessments.
But Waheed Omar, a senior adviser to President Ghani, has dismissed that assumption.
"It's a very difficult situation for us but we know - we will win," he said with the BBC.
