The lightning advance of the Taliban is now expected to reach Kabul in 7 days, report says

• The Taliban could reach the Afghan capital of Kabul within seven days, ITV News reported.
• Previous estimates said that militants could seize Kabul within 90 days.
• US embassy staff in Kabul have been told to destroy sensitive material, highlighting fears of the Taliban's rapid advance.

The Taliban is expected to reach the Afghan capital of Kabul within a week, according to ITV News.

Initial reports said that United States officials were bracing themselves for Taliban fighters retaking Kabul within three months, Insider previously reported.

But two senior Western diplomats told ITV News that the newest estimates show that militants could seize the capital much sooner than anticipated, the UK broadcaster said.

-Rohit Kachroo (@RohitKachrooITV) August 13, 2021

On Friday, staff at the US embassy in Kabul were told Friday to destroy sensitive material, highlighting fears that the Taliban may soon overrun the building in Afghanistan's capital city, Insider's Jake Epstein reported.

Militants from the Islamist military organization, who are currently fighting government forces in Logar province, which is only about an hour's drive from Kabul, are drawing closer to the capital at a rapid speed, ITV News reported.

The Taliban has taken 18 of Afghanistan's 34 provincial capitals and now controls more than two-thirds of the country, the Associated Press said.

The country's second and third largest cities - Herat in the west and Kandahar in the south - have also fallen to the insurgents, the news agency added.

The US predicts that the Taliban could overrun the entire country within a few months, ITV News reported.

The Taliban advance comes as US troops withdraw from the country after two decades of military operations.