The Taliban on Thursday took control of a region in western Afghanistan, which is a major crossing point for the country’s border with Iran, as Islamist insurgents continue to advance rapidly across the country, Afghan security officials said.
Last week, the Taliban occupied areas bordering five countries – Iran, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, China and Pakistan – as foreign forces end a two-decade operation in Afghanistan and the security situation inside the country deteriorates.
Pentagon spokesman John Kirby acknowledged on Thursday that the Taliban had taken control of dozens of regional centers in Afghanistan. “Dozens of regional centers have been occupied, that is true. “And we believe that they also intend to threaten provincial centers,” Kirby said.
Fierce fighting between Taliban fighters and Afghan government forces is also raging in the northern province of Balkh, near the border with Uzbekistan.
Two senior security officials told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity, that the border crossing with Iran, Islam Kuala, in Herat province, had fallen to the Taliban and that Afghan security and customs officials had fled to the other side. of borders.
Iran’s Arabic-language al-Alam TV reported that Afghan troops had entered Iranian territory through the border crossing to escape the Taliban.
Tariq Arian, a spokesman for Afghanistan’s interior ministry, denied the allegations, saying the border crossing was still under the control of government forces.
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Another security official said the Taliban had taken control of five districts in Herat.
On Monday, 1,000 Afghan troops took refuge in neighboring Tajikistan after heavy fighting with the Taliban as the Taliban occupied most of the northern province of Badakhshan, which also borders China and Pakistan.
Earlier on Thursday, the Afghan Defense Ministry said Afghan government forces had regained control of Qala-i-Naw, the capital of the western province of Badghis, which had been invaded by the Taliban a day earlier. to new businesses on the outskirts of Kala-i-Naou.
Fighting between the Taliban and Afghan government forces raged for a second day in Qala-i-Naw, and thick black smoke billowed into the skies of the provincial capital. The rest of Badghis province is under Taliban control.
Western security officials say the Taliban have taken control of more than 100 areas in Afghanistan. The Taliban claim to have seized more than 200 districts in 34 provinces, which make up more than half the country. Large cities remain under the control of government forces.
US President Joe Biden announced earlier on Thursday that the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan would end on August 31, assuring that Washington had “achieved its goals” in the country in its fight against the terrorist threat.
“We are ending America’s longest war,” Biden said. “I will not send another generation of Americans to fight in Afghanistan.”
The US president acknowledged that the Taliban, whom he said he “did not trust”, had been strengthened militarily. However, he believes that it is not “inevitable” that the country will fall into the hands of Islamist rebels.
