Taliban captured Gardez, Paktia, the twenty-first provincial capital to fall.
There was quite a firefight between Taliban and CIA backed KPF, ANA 203rd Tandar Corps, and apparently NDS as well. Taliban brought in up-armored Humvees. Afghan government deputy governor Abdul Wali gave up, and the Afghan government forces were forced to surrender.
As it’s part of the Suleiman Khel belt, as I understand it, Gardez wanted to surrender like it’s neighbor Paktika to the south, but Afghan government forces refused and a firefight ensued.
Taliban and Abdul Wali. This may have been a story of liberation from KPF/NDS/Ghani, not conquest of Gardez, but I dunno, we’ll go with captured.