The Battle of Kandahar occurred from 9 July to 12 August 2021 when the Taliban captured Afghanistan's second-largest city, Kandahar, amid the 2021 Taliban offensive which ended the Afghanistan War. Amid their summer offensive, the Taliban launched brutal attacks on the city to wear down its defenses and demoralize its Afghan National Army defenders. The assault on Kandahar began on 9 July 2021, and intense clashes throughout Kandahar in mid-July led to 11,000 families fleeing from Kandahar into refugee camps. On 16 July, the Afghan government imposed a curfew over the city, and, by 22 July, the city was besieged by the Taliban, even as the US Air Force and Afghan Air Force bombed Taliban positions. In early August, the Taliban besiegers were strengthened by reinforcements. The Taliban launched rocket attacks on the Kandahar airport, and they cut off the city's food supply, leading to crippling food shortages. On 12 August 2021, the ANA withdrew from the city, and, while the Taliban were lenient with the soldiers who surrendered, they rounded up the city's civil servants. Kandahar marked the thirteenth provincial capital to fall to the Taliban.