Afghanistan has imposed a month-long curfew across most of the country in a bid to stop the Taliban from invading cities, according to the BBC.
While excluding the capital, Kabul, and two other provinces, the curfew bars any movement between 10pm and 4am.
The report notes that fighting between the Taliban and Afghan government forces has increased over the past two months as international troops pull out of the country.
Some US analysts fear the Taliban could take control of the country within six months, according to the report.
The militant group, which reportedly moved swiftly in the wake of the US withdrawal, retaking border crossings and other land in rural areas, is thought to have captured up to half of all territory. The fundamentalist Islamist militia, which was pushed out of power by the US invasion nearly 20 years ago, has also seized key roads, seeking to cut off supply routes.
The BBC says there are concerns that with peace talks moving slowly, the focus of fighting will increasingly turn to more heavily populated urban centres.
Afghanistan’s interior ministry said the new curfew was ‘to curb violence and limit the Taliban movements’.
Fierce clashes this week outside the city of Kandahar prompted US airstrikes against the militants. But the BBC says that, with US operations in Afghanistan officially ending on 31 August, there are concerns about the months ahead.