As Mazar-e-Sharif falls, 2 key Afghan warlords flee to Uzbekistan

Kabul, Aug 15 Prominent Afghan warlords Marshal Abdul Rashid Dostum and Atta Muhammad Noor, who were defending Mazar-e-Sharif, have fled to Uzbekistan along with their fighters and sons after the fall of the city to the Taliban.

In a Facebook post, Noor said that the collapse of Mazar-e-sharif was a plot and aimed at getting himself and Dostum surrendered, as per media reports.

The only province in the north of Afghanistan, Balkh, fell to the Taliban which brought the entire northern zone under the fighters' control.

The Taliban launched heavy attacks on the provincial capital, Mazar-e-sharif, and toppled the city after a relatively heavy confrontation with the Afghan Forces and the armed uprising.

The Afghan government has not commented on the collapse of the Balkh province yet.

Taliban spokesperson Zabiullah Mujahid on his Twitter wrote that the provincial office, police headquarter; NDS local office, and 209th Shaheen corps have fallen to the fighters.

Mujahid added that the central prison has also been broken and inmates were set free.

Earlier, Noor had said he will never ever surrender to the Taliban and there was no power to get him arrested in the province.

Dostum had also said that Balkh is the door of Afghanistan and they will never let the province topple.

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