Taliban detain veteran commander known as the Lion of Herat

Officials say Ismail Khan is being held with provincial governor and security officials

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  Smoke plumes as the Taliban and Afghan government forces fight for control of key southern city Kandahar.

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  Taliban fighters stand guard in Kunduz city, northern Afghanistan. The militants have ramped up their push across much of the country in recent weeks.

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  A Taliban fighter brandishes a rocket-propelled grenade launcher in Herat, Afghanistan's third-biggest city, after besieged government forces pulled out.

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  Taliban fighters in Herat. The US and UK have told their citizens to leave Afghanistan. The insurgents have also taken Pul-e-Alam in Logar province, just 50km south of Kabul.

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  Taliban fighters stand on an abandoned military vehicle in Herat, on the same day insurgents also took Kandahar, Afghanistan's second-biggest city.

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  A Taliban fighter on the back of a motorcycle after the extremist group entered Herat.

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  A Taliban convoy enters Herat. The group has also taken Lashkar Gah, capital of southern province Helmand.

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  Taliban extremists gather in the main square after taking control of Kandahar.

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  Despite the major setback of losing Kandahar, the government still holds Kabul and says it is determined to resist the Taliban advance.

Taliban insurgents detained veteran militia commander Mohammad Ismail Khan on Friday after they seized the western city of Herat, a provincial council member said.

Mr Khan, 75, who has been leading fighters against the Taliban in recent weeks, was handed over to the insurgents along with the provincial governor and security officials under a pact, provincial council member Ghulam Habib Hashimi told Reuters.

“The Taliban agreed that they will not pose any threat or harm to the government officials who surrendered,” Mr Hashimi said.

Ismail Khan, a former Afghan Mujahideen commander, talks to supporters in Herat before the city in western Afghanistan fell to Taliban insurgents after weeks of fighting. EPA

Mr Khan is one of Afghanistan's most prominent warlords. Known as the Lion of Herat, he battled Soviet occupiers in the 1980s and was a key member of the Northern Alliance whose US-backed forces toppled the Taliban in 2001.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid confirmed that Mr Khan had been detained.

Taliban insurgents tightened their grip on Afghanistan on Friday, wresting control of its second and third biggest cities while western embassies prepared to send in troops to help move staff from the capital, Kabul.

The capture of Kandahar in the south, the second-biggest city, and Herat in the west, after days of fighting are a devastating setback for the government as the deadly Taliban insurgency turns into a rout of the security forces.

"The city looks like a front line, a ghost town," provincial council member Ghulam Habib Hashimi told Reuters from Herat, a city of about 600,000 people near the border with Iran.

"Families have either left or are hiding in their homes."