UN Secretary-General's special envoy for the country, Deborah Lyons, said that Afghanistan is at a dangerous turning point as the war has entered a new phase.

"Ahead lies either a genuine peace negotiation or a tragically intertwined set of crises: an increasingly brutal conflict combined with an acute humanitarian situation and multiplying human rights abuses," the UN representative told the Security Council in a briefing on Friday.  The Envoy asked the Security Council to work to prevent Afghanistan from descending into a situation of catastrophe "so serious that it would have few, if any, parallels in this century".

In the past weeks, the war in Afghanistan has entered a  deadlier and more destructive phase, Lyons said.  The Taliban campaign during June and July to capture rural areas has achieved significant territorial gains. From this strengthened position, they have begun to attack the large cities, she said, adding that ‘the human toll of this strategy is extremely distressing, and the political message is even more deeply disturbing’. The provincial capitals of Kandahar, Herat, and Helmand have come under significant pressure, a clear attempt by the Taliban to seize urban centres with the force of arms, according to the envoy. The Taliban attacked the provincial capital on Thursday, following which, hundreds of residents of the city fled towards the border with Iran, in desperate search for safety.

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