HUNDREDS of Afghan troops fled into Tajikistan overnight before a major Taliban offensive in the north, the government said today.

It thanked Tajikistan for showing “humanism and good neighbourliness” in allowing the Afghan National Defence and Security Forces to enter.

Taliban forces are securing control of the whole of the country’s Badakhshan province, with provincial councillor Mohib-ul Rahman saying their rapid advances were won “without a fight.”

Of 10 districts surrendered to the Taliban in the last three days, eight were abandoned without fighting, he said. Army, police and secret police were fleeing military outposts for the provincial capital Faizabad, other provinces or abroad. Though the capital’s defences were being strengthened today, he said some top officials were already escaping to Kabul.

The military collapse raises questions over the purpose of the US’s 20-year military occupation of Afghanistan, which ended when the last US troops withdrew on Friday. 

The 2001 invasion — supposedly to capture al-Qaida founder Osama bin Laden, who was later killed in Pakistan — championed the removal of the Taliban from power, but the extreme Islamist group currently controls around one-third of Afghanistan and has recently conquered strategic border areas such as Imam Sahib in Kunduz, which controls the key trade route from Uzbekistan.

The Taliban has released video of surrendering soldiers accepting money to pay for their travel home and leaving. It is unclear how long the Kabul government will last with its armed forces failing to resist Taliban offensives.