Kabul : Taliban Afghanistan claims control of 85 percent of its territory as authorities prepared on Saturday to restart a major border crossing seized by insurgents, as US troops scrambled to exit the war-torn nation. A massive campaign was launched.
hours after President Joe Biden The Taliban on Thursday issued a staunch defense of the US withdrawal, saying its fighters had captured two crossings in western Afghanistan – completing an arc of territory from the Iranian border to the border with China.
In Moscow, a delegation of Taliban officials said they controlled about 250 of Afghanistan’s nearly 400 districts – a claim that is impossible to independently verify, and is disputed by the government.
Taliban spokesman zabihullah mujahidi told separately AFP His fighters captured the border town of Islam Kala on the Iranian border and the Torghundi crossing with Turkmenistan.
Jilani Farhad, spokesman for the governor of Herat, said officials were preparing to deploy new troops to recapture the port of Islam Kala, the biggest trade crossroads between Iran and Afghanistan.
“Islam art has not yet been sent reinforcements. They will be sent there soon,” he told AFP.
The Afghan government has repeatedly dismissed the Taliban’s gains as being of little strategic importance, but the seizure of mineral-rich areas as well as several cross-border seizures is likely to fill the group’s coffers with multiple sources of new revenue.
Biden said the US military mission would end on August 31 – nearly 20 years after it began – but acknowledged it was “highly unlikely” Kabul would be able to control the entire country.
“The status quo is not an option,” Biden said of his stay in the country. “I will not send another generation of Americans to war in Afghanistan.”
The Taliban have ravaged much of northern Afghanistan in recent weeks, leaving the government with little more than a bunch of provincial capitals, which must be strengthened and re-supplied largely by air.
The air force, already under severe tension before the Taliban’s lightning strike, took over the government’s northern and western positions, further straining the country’s limited aircraft and pilots.
Biden said only the Afghan people should determine their future, but acknowledged the uncertainty of what it would look like.
Asked whether the Taliban takeover was inevitable, the president said: “No, it is not.”
But, he acknowledged, “Afghanistan is very unlikely to have a unified government controlling the entire country”.
Afghan commandos clashed with rebels in a provincial capital this week, with thousands fleeing Kala-i-Naw in northwest Badgis province.
On Friday, the Afghan Defense Ministry said government forces had “complete control” of the city, but a local official said on Saturday that rebels had attacked the city again during the night.
Ismail Khan, a veteran warlord whose militia helped US forces topple the Taliban in 2001, vowed to support government forces in the fight against the insurgents.
“We will soon go to the front line and with God’s help we will turn the situation around,” Khan told reporters in the western city of Herat.
The troop withdrawal has boosted the Taliban and – with peace talks in a standoff in Doha – is pushing for a complete military victory.
Still, on Thursday, Suhail Shaheen, who is also a member of the Taliban negotiating team, insisted the insurgents were seeking “dealing talks”.
America Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin called for international pressure to implement a deal.
“The security situation in Afghanistan only argues more for a negotiated political solution to international pressure,” Austin said in a tweet on Friday.
“The whole world can help by keeping this push going.”
pentagon The chief did not specify which countries he was urging for help, but Pakistan is believed to have significant influence over the insurgents.
hours after President Joe Biden The Taliban on Thursday issued a staunch defense of the US withdrawal, saying its fighters had captured two crossings in western Afghanistan – completing an arc of territory from the Iranian border to the border with China.
In Moscow, a delegation of Taliban officials said they controlled about 250 of Afghanistan’s nearly 400 districts – a claim that is impossible to independently verify, and is disputed by the government.
Taliban spokesman zabihullah mujahidi told separately AFP His fighters captured the border town of Islam Kala on the Iranian border and the Torghundi crossing with Turkmenistan.
Jilani Farhad, spokesman for the governor of Herat, said officials were preparing to deploy new troops to recapture the port of Islam Kala, the biggest trade crossroads between Iran and Afghanistan.
“Islam art has not yet been sent reinforcements. They will be sent there soon,” he told AFP.
The Afghan government has repeatedly dismissed the Taliban’s gains as being of little strategic importance, but the seizure of mineral-rich areas as well as several cross-border seizures is likely to fill the group’s coffers with multiple sources of new revenue.
Biden said the US military mission would end on August 31 – nearly 20 years after it began – but acknowledged it was “highly unlikely” Kabul would be able to control the entire country.
“The status quo is not an option,” Biden said of his stay in the country. “I will not send another generation of Americans to war in Afghanistan.”
The Taliban have ravaged much of northern Afghanistan in recent weeks, leaving the government with little more than a bunch of provincial capitals, which must be strengthened and re-supplied largely by air.
The air force, already under severe tension before the Taliban’s lightning strike, took over the government’s northern and western positions, further straining the country’s limited aircraft and pilots.
Biden said only the Afghan people should determine their future, but acknowledged the uncertainty of what it would look like.
Asked whether the Taliban takeover was inevitable, the president said: “No, it is not.”
But, he acknowledged, “Afghanistan is very unlikely to have a unified government controlling the entire country”.
Afghan commandos clashed with rebels in a provincial capital this week, with thousands fleeing Kala-i-Naw in northwest Badgis province.
On Friday, the Afghan Defense Ministry said government forces had “complete control” of the city, but a local official said on Saturday that rebels had attacked the city again during the night.
Ismail Khan, a veteran warlord whose militia helped US forces topple the Taliban in 2001, vowed to support government forces in the fight against the insurgents.
“We will soon go to the front line and with God’s help we will turn the situation around,” Khan told reporters in the western city of Herat.
The troop withdrawal has boosted the Taliban and – with peace talks in a standoff in Doha – is pushing for a complete military victory.
Still, on Thursday, Suhail Shaheen, who is also a member of the Taliban negotiating team, insisted the insurgents were seeking “dealing talks”.
America Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin called for international pressure to implement a deal.
“The security situation in Afghanistan only argues more for a negotiated political solution to international pressure,” Austin said in a tweet on Friday.
“The whole world can help by keeping this push going.”
pentagon The chief did not specify which countries he was urging for help, but Pakistan is believed to have significant influence over the insurgents.
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