Taliban Advances Test Afghan Morale as U.S. Leaves

“Every few hours this weekend, the Taliban released videos of triumphant insurgents inspecting yet another Afghan district headquarters that had been lost in battle by government forces or surrendered without a fight,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“Some of these districts, a unit equivalent to American counties, are too remote or sparsely populated to warrant defending as the overstretched Afghan military, shorn of vital U.S. air support, refocuses on protecting the country’s major population centers.”

New York Times: Taliban enter key cities in Afghanistan’s north after swift offensive.