Top Afghan peace broker calls for emergency UN Security Council meeting

By Shadi Khan Saif

KABUL, Afghanistan (AA) - Afghanistan's top peace broker Abdullah Abdullah calls for an emergency UN Security Council meeting as Taliban insurgents claim advances in the war-ravaged country's second-biggest city Kandahar as well as the western Herat province bordering Iran.

Abdullah made this call his remarks at the meeting attended by representatives from the UN, EU, US, Britain, Russia, China, Pakistan, Uzbekistan, and Qatar in Doha.

"The situation in Afghanistan is critical and the achievements of the last two decades are under threat," Abdullah said, according to a statement by his office, High Council for National Reconciliation.

The head of this peace council stressed that thousands of Afghans have been killed and injured, while thousands of families have been displaced following recent Taliban attacks on cities, so in order to address this crisis as one of the issues that threaten world peace and security, he called for convening an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council.

The head of the Supreme National Reconciliation Council added that now is the time for the UN Security Council to discuss the issue of Afghanistan and to take an urgent and decisive decision on addressing the country's crisis.

Meanwhile, advancing Taliban late on Thursday claimed to have overrun one of Afghanistan's megacities, Herat, next to Iran exactly a week since launching the first assaults on this historic city.

The group's spokesman Zabiullah Mujahed posted visuals on Twitter of the armed insurgents capturing the governor's office and nearby key government buildings, including security headquarters and the prison.

The Taliban also claimed advances on Afghanistan's second-biggest city Kandahar.

There was no official confirmation for these developments as the Afghan Defense Ministry claimed in a series of statements that over 300 Taliban were killed in various air and ground offensives in the past 24 hours.