Taliban take Herat as Afghan forces retreat

A senior security source from Herat told AFP that government forces and administration officials had retreated to an army barracks outside the city.

"We had to leave the city in order to prevent further destruction," he said.

A Taliban spokesman, however, tweeted "soldiers laid down their arms and joined the Taliban".

An AFP correspondent had earlier filmed the Taliban flag flying over the police headquarters in Herat, while the insurgents tweeted "the enemy fled... Dozens of military vehicles, weapons and ammunition fell into the hands of the Taliban".

Further details of the Taliban's presence in the city were not immediately available, but it has been under siege for weeks.

Earlier, the interior ministry confirmed the fall of Ghazni, which lies along the major Kabul-Kandahar highway and serves as a gateway between the capital and militant strongholds in the south.