Fierce battles are being fought in Afghanistan as government forces and private militias fight to stave off the Taliban, which has made dramatic gains on the battlefield since international forces began withdrawing from the country on May 1.
Afghanistan On The Brink
- By RFE/RL
1
Armed supporters of former mujahedin commander Ismail Khan guard his residence on July 9. Khan and his followers have vowed to fight alongside Afghan security forces against the Taliban as the militants advance into the western Herat Province.
2
Ismail Khan (on telephone), a veteran of the Soviet-Afghan war of the 1980s, with supporters as he prepares to defend the area against the Taliban advance on July 9. Khan survived an assassination attempt by the Taliban in 2009.
3
Taliban spokesman Suhail Shaheen after a news conference in Moscow on July 9. The militant Islamist group says it controls some 85 percent of Afghanistan -- a claim that is difficult to confirm.
4
Women carry automatic weapons as they march in opposition to the Taliban in the central-western Ghor Province on July 6.
