Seeking an end to the Taliban’s attacks on Afghan provincial capitals, the UN envoy for Afghanistan, Deborah Lyons, on Friday said the UN Security Council should issue a statement against such an attempt by the group as the human toll of this strategy is extremely distressing and the political message is even more deeply disturbing.

Taliban on Friday captured the city of Zaranj, the capital of Nimroz province on the border with Iran as the first provincial capital to be seized by the group since the Biden administration said it would completely withdraw US troops from the country.