On Sunday, the Taliban said that they had captured the key Afghan city of Kunduz.
As per a report by AFP, fierce street to street fighting had raged in the centre of a second northern capital, Shar-e-pul.
“Kunduz has fallen; the Taliban have taken all the key installations in the city,” the report by AFP says.
Since the U.S. started withdrawal of troops in May, the Taliban were able to capture two provincial capitals.
They had gained control of Zaranj in Nimroz on Friday, while Sheberghan in Jawzjan on Saturday.
The Afghan security forces and the Taliban had been fighting in the centre of Kunduz before it fell to the Taliban.
The fall of Kunduz comes as a major blow to the Afghan Government as it had mostly abandoned fighting in the countryside in order to defend urban centres against Taliban.