TALIBAN’S CLAIM THEY RUN COUNTRY DISMISSED

▶ Militants’ boast that they control 85% of Afghanistan again is disputed

The Taliban have seized 85 per cent of territory in Afghanistan, an official from the insurgent group said.

Analysts tracking the country’s conflict dismissed the statement, made on Friday, but government officials expressed concern about the insurgents’ gains in border areas.

“We control 250 of the 398 districts – that is, 85 per cent of the Afghan soil under our control,” Shahabuddin Delawar, one of a three-member Taliban delegation, told reporters in Moscow after talks with Russian officials.

“The Taliban have routinely expressed inaccurate and exaggerated claims of how much territory they control in Afghanistan, and this claim was no different,” Jonathan Schroden, director at CNA, a non-profit research and analysis organisation, told The National. “It’s propaganda, plain and simple.”

According to the Long War Journal, which maps the shifting control lines in the Afghan conflict, the Taliban hold sway in 205 districts. It said the number of districts under Kabul’s absolute control had dropped to 74, and 120 are contested.

Attacks on provincial centres, border towns and trade points have raised concern about the fighting spilling across borders.

More than 1,000 Afghan soldiers crossed into Tajikistan, which hosts a Russian military base, after battles near the border this week.

Russia noted the increased tension in its meetings with the Taliban on Friday, pointing out that the group occupies “a large part of border districts and currently controls about two-thirds of the border”.

Moscow urged the Taliban “not to allow these tensions to spread outside the country,” said Maria Zakharova, the Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman.

The group gave assurance “that they would not violate the borders of the Central Asian countries”, she said.

Similar concern was raised by Iran, which shares a border with Afghanistan, at a meeting with the Taliban and Afghan delegations in Tehran on Wednesday.

“We warn the Taliban not to get close to Iranian borders. This is Iran’s red line,” Shahriar Heidari, deputy head of the Iranian parliamentary committee on national security, said.

Taliban officials are meeting leaders of regional powers as US and Nato forces withdraw from Afghanistan.

US President Joe Biden said on Thursday that the withdrawal of his country’s troops would be completed in August.

The Taliban’s attacks on borders have affected trade, Afghan Finance Ministry spokesman Rafi Tabee told The National.

“As a result of the attacks, customs and operations on these borders have been suspended, affecting businesses in Afghanistan,” he said.

“These borders and customs, along with the air corridor, are crucial to Afghan trade and connect our businesses to Central Asia and Europe.”

Mr Tabee blamed Pakistan, which is known to support and shelter the Taliban, for the increased attacks on trade routes, and said the Pakistani border had not been affected.

“The borders that were targeted are those operating independent of Pakistan and they don’t benefit from it,” he said.

“They don’t want Afghanistan to be economically independent of Pakistan. Even with the air corridor we share with the region, the fighting will impact our exports.”

In one of the most significant border gains, on Thursday the Taliban seized the Islam Qala crossing on the Afghan-Iran border in northern Herat. They took over the town of Torghundi, a trade crossing with Turkmenistan, on the same day.

But a government official said Afghan forces were battling the Taliban at Islam Qala.

“All Afghan security forces including the border units are present in the area, and efforts are under way to retake the site,” Interior Ministry spokesman Tareq Arian said on Thursday.

Islam Qala hosts one of the largest humanitarian operations in Afghanistan to support the hundreds of Afghans deported from Iran every day.

Inter-governmental body the International Organisation for Migration said it had to restrict operations and remove its staff from Islam Qala on Wednesday, after days of Taliban attacks.

“The Taliban have had control of Islam Qala township for three days,” Nicholas Bishop, an IOM emergency response officer, told The National.

Earlier this year, IOM had to move its staff from Spin Boldak in Kandahar, on the border with Pakistan, he said.

“Borders are increasingly being targeted by the Taliban. In Nimruz, the Kang district was taken on Wednesday, which is not far from Zarang, which is the site of a border crossing from Iran as well.

“Borders represent a lot of revenue and control. They are definitely a target for takeovers.”

Dr Schroden, the CNA director, said attacks on borders were intended to isolate the country.

“The Taliban’s capture of border towns fits with their strategy of attempting to isolate and lay siege to Afghanistan’s major cities,” he said.

“It also appears to be part of an effort to proactively cut off foreign aid routes to resistance militias that have formed or are forming in the north and west of the country,” he said, referring to uprisings against Taliban sieges in several provinces.