FOG BLOG WORLD NEWS LOG: TALIBAN CONTROLS OVER HALF AFGHANISTAN CAPITALS:

The Taliban now control half of Afghanistan's provincial capitals....The Taliban have seized Kandahar, Afghanistan's second-largest city, and a number of other provincial capitals, as the insurgent group accelerates its rapid advance towards the capital Kabul.

Afghan Member of Parliament Gul Ahmad Kamin told CNN on Friday that Kandahar had been taken. The city, which lies in the south of the country, has been besieged by the Taliban for weeks, and many observers consider its fall as the beginning of the end for the country's US-backed government.

Later on Friday the militants took charge of a handful of other cities. According to CNN analysis they now control 17 of Afghanistan's 34 provincial capitals, all of which have been captured in the last week.

The group has made territorial gains in the north of the country, which has traditionally been an anti-Taliban stronghold. And it now controls towns and territories within 100 kilometers (62 miles) of Kabul, including the capital of Logar province, which also fell on Friday.