Afghan province Governor arrested over alleged 'deal' with Taliban

Governor of Afghanistan's Ghazni province was arrested on Thursday for allegedly cutting a deal with the Taliban, which has taken control of the provincial capital also named Ghazni, according to media reports.

The Ghazni governor Dawood Laghmani was arrested from Wardak province situated south of Kabul, after a video showed him fleeing the city. Al Jazeera reported that the governor had made a deal with the Taliban for handing over the city in exchange for a safe passage for himself.

"The ministry of interior confirmed to Al Jazeera that the Ghazni governor was arrested before he reached Kabul "for surrendering without a fight."

The Governor allegedly handed over the city to the Taliban in exchange for a safe passage but he was soon arrested by Afghan security forces in the province of Wardak. The Taliban captured Ghazni, the capital of the eponymous province in Afghanistan's southeast, spokesperson Qari Yousaf Ahmadi claimed today.

The group seized the governor's residence, police headquarters, prison and several other facilities in the city, the spokesperson tweeted. Meanwhile, President Ashraf Ghani appointed a new chief of army staff. The Taliban's aggressive offensive has hit the Afghan Army badly as the terror group has snatched 10 provincial capitals from the government in Afghanistan.

On Wednesday, after holding out for days at a military base on the edge of Kunduz, hundreds of Afghan forces surrendered to the Taliban, handing over valuable equipment, according to two Afghan officers who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the news media, reported The Washington Post.

Due to rising violence in the country by the Taliban, the situation is deteriorating badly as the terror group has been looting people and killing civilians after capturing multiple areas from the government.

The Taliban escalated its offensive against the Afghan forces soon after the US forces started leaving Afghanistan in large numbers after the peace deal signed between Washington and the Taliban in February last year.

( With inputs from ANI )

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