Mohammad Ashraf Ghani speaks at his swearing-in ceremony at the presidential palace in Kabul, Afghanistan, March 9, 2020. Incumbent Afghan President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani was sworn in for a second five-year term on Monday, while his main election rival and government Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah also held a parallel presidential swearing-in ceremony. (Xinhua/Rahmatullah Alizadah)

 
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani flew to the besieged northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif on Wednesday to rally his beleaguered forces, with Taliban fighters having now taken more than a quarter of the country's provincial capitals in less than a week.

Ghani arrived in Mazar as the Taliban captured Faizabad overnight, making it the ninth city to be overrun since Friday.

He plans "to check the general security in the northern zone," according to a statement released by the palace.

The Afghan leader was also likely to hold talks with Mazar's long-time strongman Atta Mohammad Noor and infamous warlord Abdul Rashid Dostum about the defense of the city, as Taliban fighters inched closer to its outskirts. 

The loss of Mazar would be a catastrophic blow to the Kabul government and represent the complete collapse of its control over the north - long a bastion of anti-Taliban militias. 

Hours before Ghani arrived, pictures posted on official government social media accounts showed Dostum boarding a plane in Kabul, along with a contingent of commandos, en route to Mazar.

Fighting in Afghanistan's long-running conflict has escalated dramatically since May, when the US-led military ­coalition began the final stage of a withdrawal set to be completed before the end of the month.

Further to the east of Mazar in Badakhshan's capital Faizabad, a local lawmaker said that security forces had retreated after days of heavy clashes. 

The insurgents also confirmed in a social media post that their fighters were in ­control of the city. 

But even as the Taliban routed government forces, US President Joe Biden gave no hint of delaying his deadline to withdraw all American troops by August 31, instead urging Afghan leaders to "fight for themselves" on Tuesday. 

"I do not regret my decision" to withdraw US troops after two decades of war, he told reporters in Washington.

And as fighting raged, US diplomats were desperately trying to breathe life back into all but dead talks between the Afghan government and Taliban in Doha, where Washington's special envoy Zalmay Khalilzad was pushing the Taliban to accept a cease-fire.