Taliban make gains in Afghanistan, seize key border crossing with Iran

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One of the crossings that fell to the Taliban is located in the town of Islam Qala in the northwestern province of Herat and is a major gateway to Iran.

The Afghan “Tolo News” network quoted the acting head of the regional customs department, Nizar Ahmad Nasiri, as saying that Islam Qala and Turgundy, located on the border with Turkmenistan, had fallen into the hands of the Taliban.

Videos posted on social media show Taliban fighters in Islam Qala and a customs official in Herat confirming to CNN that the Taliban captured the two crossings on Thursday afternoon local time.

“Now no one is at either of the two gates and crossings with the Taliban,” the employee said.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah said, on Friday, that the movement is organizing the security of the crossing, and that it will reopen Saturday.

The gate is important for the Afghan economy: according to World Bank data, about 15% of Afghanistan’s imports into the country come through the Iranian border.

Taliban spokesman Shahbuding Dilawar told a news conference in Moscow that all Afghan border and customs offices recently occupied by the Taliban “remain open and will operate as before.”

“We want the world, especially the neighboring countries, to know that we will bring security and stability to the borders of Afghanistan,” Dilawar added.

“We will take business considerations very seriously,” he said. “All imported and exported trade will be carried out in accordance with applicable laws.”

Delaware also claimed that the Taliban now controls about 85% of the territory in Afghanistan. “In this 85% of the territory – all offices and hospitals are operational – is active and operational. We announce that humanitarian aid will be delivered to our territory.”

Independent monitors of the security situation in Afghanistan believe that the Taliban controls less than 85% of the territory, but has made significant gains in the northeast, northwest and south of Afghanistan in recent weeks.

The group almost controlled Badakhshan and Takhar, two provinces in the far northeast of the country, including areas they did not control when they were in power between 1996 and 2001. Badakhshan shares borders with China and Tajikistan.

The Taliban also made advances in the west of the country, particularly in Herat and the neighboring Badghis Province.

Earlier this week, hundreds of Taliban fighters entered the capital of Badghis, although the government says the city is now back under its control.

While none of the Afghan provincial capitals are yet under Taliban control, their fighters are located in the outskirts of many of these cities, including the areas around Kandahar in the south.

Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told CNN that the situation in Afghanistan is worrying. “What we have seen is a deteriorating security situation on the ground, no questions about that, that the Taliban continue to take over district centers… I am not in a position to determine or verify their assessment,” he said.

“It is worrying and, as the president said yesterday, that we want to see a political solution and an end to this fighting,” he added.

US President Joe Biden acknowledged Thursday that the Taliban are now at their strongest since 2001, but added that he had confidence in the “ability of the Afghan army, which is better trained and better equipped” than the Taliban.

“They have the capacity. They have the troops. They have the equipment. The question is: Will they do it?” Biden said of the Afghan government.

According to the Long War Journal, which tracks territorial control in Afghanistan, 204 districts are now under Taliban control, 74 of which are under government control and 120 are still in dispute.

However, the government controls most of the areas around the capital, Kabul. The Long War Journal estimates that about 12.8 million Afghans live in Taliban-controlled areas, of whom 10.8 million live in government-controlled areas and 9.4 million in disputed areas.

CNN’s Sandy Seydoux reports from Kabul. CNN’s Tim Lister wrote and reported.

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