Friday, July 9th, 2021
Advance in Afghanistan
Taliban: Control 85 percent of the country
According to their own statements, the Taliban have conquered 85 percent of Afghanistan. This also includes more and more important border crossings. The nervousness of the neighbors is increasing. But in Moscow the radical Islamists assure that the fighting will not spread beyond the border.
Since the start of the withdrawal of all NATO troops at the end of April, the radical Islamic Taliban have claimed to have recaptured 85 percent of Afghanistan. This claim cannot be independently verified and is denied by the government. According to other information, they control more than a third of the approximately 400 districts in Afghanistan. In their advance, they also captured two important crossings on the borders with Iran and Tajikistan. According to Russia, the insurgents now control two thirds of the Afghan-Tajik border.
“The Islam Kala border is now under our complete control and we will try to get it back into operation today,” Taliban spokesman Sabihullah Mujahid told AFP. The border crossing, around 120 kilometers from the city of Herat, is one of the most important border crossings in Afghanistan. Most of the official trade with Iran takes place there. A little later, the Mujahid also declared the Torgundi crossing on the border with Tajikistan “completely captured”.
The government in Kabul said the Afghan army is currently trying to regain control of Islam Kala and Torgundi. Afghan security forces, including border police, are present in the regions, said Afghan Interior Ministry spokesman Tarek Arian. These are not the first border crossings that the Taliban have been able to secure since the beginning of the withdrawal of NATO troops from Afghanistan. In June they had already captured the most important border crossing to Tajikistan, Shir Khan Bandar. Hundreds of Afghan soldiers fled across the border into Tajikistan as a result of the fierce fighting over Shir Khan Bandar.
Talks in Moscow
According to the Russian Foreign Ministry, the Taliban have now taken control of two thirds of the border area between Afghanistan and Tajikistan. “We are seeing a sharp rise in tensions on the Afghan-Tajik border,” said ministry spokeswoman Maria Sakharova. The Taliban “quickly occupied large parts of the border districts”. Moscow calls on all sides to exercise restraint, Sakharova said.
As long as the Taliban limited their fighting to Afghanistan and did not cross the borders, there was no reason for Russia to intervene, said Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. The Russian troops stationed in Tajikistan are currently on alert. There have also been reports from Uzbekistan of a tense situation on the border with Afghanistan. The authorities in Turkmenistan reported fighting on the border with the neighboring country.
Taliban officials, however, denied concerns about the fighting spreading to neighboring countries. “Our territory will never be used against neighboring or friendly states,” said the head of a delegation, Shahabuddin Delawar, at a press conference in Moscow. According to the Interfax agency, the delegation met Samir Kabulov, the Moscow Foreign Ministry’s Afghanistan representative. The Taliban are banned as an extremist organization in Russia. Nevertheless, the country is negotiating with them. President Vladimir Putin is also in the picture, the Kremlin announced.
Observers fear that the Taliban could take power again after the US and its NATO partners have completely withdrawn from Afghanistan. The Islamists are already on the advance in many parts of the country and in some cases hardly encounter any resistance. In other places there is fierce fighting, such as currently over the provincial capital Kala-i-Naw in the north-west of the country.
“Several hundred” local employees in Germany
In the face of the Taliban offensive, the World Health Organization expressed deep concern about access to health care in Afghanistan. A number of health care workers have left health facilities due to safety concerns, said Rick Brennan, WHO emergency director in the eastern Mediterranean region. The country is confronted with an increase in corona cases, among other things. So far, only four percent of adults have been vaccinated.
Despite the advance of the Taliban, US President Joe Biden defended his decision to quickly withdraw troops from Afghanistan on Thursday. After the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the United States “achieved” its goals in the fight against terrorism in the Hindu Kush, he said. Biden has announced that all US soldiers will be withdrawn from Afghanistan by the end of August at the latest. The Bundeswehr withdrew its last soldiers from the country at the end of June.
In this context, “a few hundred” local Afghan workers have come to Germany so far. That said a spokesman for the Ministry of Defense in Berlin. “We will help – and we are already helping them – who have helped us (…) and we know the responsibility we have for these people,” added government spokesman Steffen Seibert. Not everything could be made public about the details of the aid, “but there is certainly a great deal going on.”
The spokesman for the Taliban’s political office in Doha (Qatar), Suhail Schahin, assured Moscow that after the US troops withdrew, there would be no reason for their Afghan interpreters to leave the country. “We guarantee their safety,” he said. You could support reconstruction in Afghanistan.
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