On Wednesday, the Taliban advanced to the northern and western regions of Afghanistan. The Afghan army regained some areas. Tajikistan requested regional assistance led by Russia to restore border security. At the same time, it continued its diplomatic efforts in Doha and Tehran to achieve peace in Afghanistan.
After the violent conflict between the two parties, the Afghan army expelled Taliban militants from Galano, the capital of Badghis State in the western part of the country. Security sources announced that after the Taliban attack, about 200 prisoners escaped from Galano Central Prison .
Al Jazeera’s Kabul correspondent Nasser Shadid reported that what happened in Galano today is a substantive development since the beginning of the withdrawal of foreign troops. Without the intervention of the US training Afghan special forces from Herat Province, the Taliban would almost Taking control of the city, at the same time, there were a large number of casualties on both sides.
Earlier, Reuters quoted the Governor of Badghis Province Husamuddin Shams as saying that the Taliban attacked Nauburg from three directions in the morning, and the Afghan security forces were confronting them.
Governor Husamuddin Shams said in a previous statement that Taliban militants control 6 of the province’s 7 districts, that is, control all areas except the provincial capital.
Video clips obtained by Reuters showed smoke billowing over the city. One of the streets of the special forces commander Sayed Nizami said that the soldiers “expelled the enemy from the area and the enemy suffered heavy losses. , We are now advancing and driving the enemy out of the city.”
Security headquarters
An official of the Ministry of Defense, who asked not to be named, said that Taliban militants have taken control of the National Security Agency’s regional offices and police headquarters and are trying to take over the governor’s office before the special forces force them to retreat.
An Afghan security source told Al Jazeera that about 200 prisoners escaped from the central prison in Badghis after the Taliban took control of the facility.
This is the first time the Taliban has attacked a regional capital. According to the peace agreement signed by the Taliban and the United States in Doha two years ago, the Taliban were forbidden to travel to the city center. The agreement stipulates.
The reporter added that Afghan Defense Minister Bismara Khan Mohammedi stated that the country is at a critical military stage, but added that if joint efforts are made, government forces can control the situation.
The Afghan Ministry of Defense tweeted on Wednesday that 239 Taliban fighters were killed, 157 injured and two combatants were arrested in the past 24 hours due to operations carried out by security forces in different parts of the country.
An Afghan security source told Al Jazeera that six policemen were killed when the Taliban attacked a checkpoint west of the capital Kabul.
Since the gradual withdrawal of US and NATO forces from Afghanistan in May, the Taliban have continued to control more areas. The US military said on Tuesday that its troops in Afghanistan have completed more than 90% of the withdrawal, which is scheduled to end in September.
Peace negotiation
On the other hand, Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani sent a letter to the President of Afghanistan, Mohamed Ashraf Ghani, on bilateral relations between the two countries and ways to support and develop bilateral relations. A written explanation was given.
The special envoy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Qatar, Mutrak bin Majid Qahtani, forwarded this letter to the President of Afghanistan. During the meeting, the two sides reviewed the current developments in Afghanistan and the ongoing peace negotiations in Doha.
The intensification of the war in Afghanistan coincided with Iran’s high-level talks. The Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that a delegation of the Afghan government met with Taliban representatives in Tehran after the negotiations between the two sides had stalled for several months.
According to a short video clip released by the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohamed Javad Zarif opened the “Afghanistan meeting” between the Kabul government and Taliban representatives.
Zarif called on “the Afghan people and their political leaders to make difficult decisions for the future of their country”. At the same time, a Taliban spokesperson said that the meeting discussed issues related to achieving peace in Afghanistan.
Iran is very concerned about the situation in neighboring Afghanistan. Afghanistan and Iran share a long common border. For many years, Iran has been hosting millions of Afghan refugees.
On the other hand, US State Department spokesperson Ned Price said that the United States is aware of Iran’s hosting of talks with the Taliban, and added that he hopes Afghanistan’s neighbors will actively use their influence to achieve peace in Afghanistan.
Price added: “The intra-Afghan negotiations in Doha are continuing. We thank Qatar for its role in hosting these talks. We welcome the valuable comments made during the hosting of the inter-Afghan negotiations by Turkey, Qatar and the United Nations.”
At dawn on Wednesday, the U.S. Department of Defense announced that Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Turkish Secretary of Defense Hulusi Akar discussed the issue of withdrawing troops from Afghanistan. They also discussed the importance of maintaining the security of Hamid Karzai International Airport. The two parties agreed to hold another consultation on airport security in the near future.
The Pentagon added that Austin reiterated the importance of the long-term defense relationship between the United States and Turkey in the conference call.
Worries of Afghanistan’s neighborsRequirements of Tajikistan
On the other hand, Tajikistan asked on Wednesday that members of the Collective Security Treaty Organization headed by Russia help resolve the security challenges on its border with Afghanistan.
Tajik authorities stated that they will mobilize 20,000 troops to strengthen the protection of the border with southern neighboring countries. This is because the Taliban advanced in the northernmost province of Afghanistan, Badakhshan, and more than 1,000 Afghan soldiers crossed the Afghanistan-Tajik border.
A security source from Tajikistan told Reuters on Wednesday that, facing the advancing Taliban fighters, about 300 Afghan soldiers crossed the border into Tajikistan during the retreat and returned to their country by plane early on Wednesday morning.
In this context, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stated in a statement issued in the Indonesian capital of Jakarta that his country will do everything it can to protect its allies from threats from Afghanistan, including using its base in Tajikistan. He also said that the situation in Afghanistan tends to deteriorate rapidly.
Lavrov stated that Russian President Vladimir Putin has held talks with the Presidents of Tajikistan and Uzbekistan and maintained contact with other leaders of Central Asia, emphasizing that the commitments made within the framework of the Collective Security Treaty Organization are still fully valid.
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