The Taliban tightens its grip in scores of districts and cities in the north as President Ghani calls on local militias to fight the armed group. Pentagon spokesman John Kirby says that the U.S. is willing to continue with their airstrikes campaign against the Taliban but warned that "it is up to the Afghan's government to defend themselves" and added that "it is their struggle".
/cloudfront-us-east-2.images.arcpublishing.com/reuters/B5AX4NCYRJL3DGZ27SFK4YM55A.jpg "Taliban tighten control of Afghan north as UN fears erasure of human rights © Reuters")