Afghanistan’s 3rd-largest city falls to Taliban; militants hold 11 of 34 provincial capitals

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The Taliban have captured Afghanistan’s third-largest city and a strategic provincial capital near Kabul. The latest advance further squeezed the country’s embattled government just weeks before the end of the American military mission there. The seizure of Herat on Thursday marks the biggest prize yet for the Taliban. The capture of Ghazni, meanwhile, cuts off a crucial highway linking Kabul, the Afghan capital, with the country’s southern provinces. The insurgents now have taken 11 of Afghanistan’s 34 provincial capitals as part of a weeklong blitz. The push comes some 20 years after U.S. and NATO troops invaded and ousted the Taliban government.