Taliban seize key Afghan border post with Iran: Officials | Taliban news

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The group continues to advance as foreign forces withdraw, with sources claiming some Afghan security officials have fled to Iran.

Taliban fighters have taken control of a key district in western Afghanistan that includes a major border crossing with Iran, Afghan security officials said, as the armed group continues its rapid military advances in the country.

Last week, the Taliban invaded border areas in five countries – Iran, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, China and Pakistan – as foreign forces end their 20-year intervention and the situation in the internal security is deteriorating.

Pitched battles between Taliban fighters and Afghan government forces were also underway in the northern province of Balkh, on the border with Uzbekistan.

Two senior security officials told Reuters news agency on condition of anonymity that Islam’s Qala border post with Iran in Herat province fell to the Taliban and the Afghan security and customs officials had fled across the border.

Al Alalam TV, Iran’s official Arabic-language service, also reported that Afghan soldiers entered Iranian territory through the border post to escape the Taliban.

Tariq Arian, spokesman for the Afghan Interior Ministry, denied the information and said the border post was still under the control of government forces.

Reuters calls to the offices of the provincial governor and the police went unanswered.

Another security official said Taliban fighters seized five districts of Herat without a fight.

Earlier this week, more than 1,000 Afghan security agents fled to Tajikistan as the Taliban captured most of the northern province of Badakhshan, which also borders China and Pakistan.

The Defense Ministry said on Thursday that Afghan government forces had regained control of Qala-e-Naw, capital of the western province of Badghis, which had been stormed by the Taliban on Wednesday.

Hundreds of troops have been deployed to the area, the ministry said, adding that fighting continued on the outskirts of Qala-e-Naw, where the Taliban had previously captured the city’s main government buildings, including the police headquarters.

“The city is fully [back] under our control and we are carrying out operations against the Taliban on the outskirts of the city, ”Defense Ministry spokesman Fawad Aman said.

The ministry said 69 Taliban fighters were killed during operations on the outskirts of Qala-e-Naw – the first major provincial capital the fighters entered in their latest offensive.

The rest of Badghis province is in Taliban hands. Western security officials say the Taliban have captured more than 100 districts in Afghanistan.

The Taliban claim to hold more than 200 districts in 34 provinces comprising more than half of the country. The main towns remain under government control.

The group gained ground for weeks, but accelerated its push as the United States evacuated its main Afghan base, ending an intervention that began with the removal of the Taliban government in 2001.

The Taliban’s advances have been particularly spectacular in the northern provinces where they have long been kept at bay.

Stop-start peace talks between the government and the group remain inconclusive. Taliban delegations visited Iran on Wednesday and were in Moscow on Thursday.

Defending the decision to withdraw US forces from Afghanistan, President Joe Biden mentionned Thursday, he did not expect the Taliban to take over the whole country and trust the Afghan army.

“We are ending America’s longest war,” he said.



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