Taliban offensives prompt Tajik drills
DUSHANBE, Tajikistan/WASHINGTON — Afghanistan’s northern neighbor Tajikistan on Thursday held its largest military exercise involving the Central Asian nation’s entire army, and President Emomali Rahmon urged vigilance amid fighting to the south of the border.
Insecurity has been growing in Afghanistan in recent weeks, largely spurred by fighting in its provinces as United States-led Western troops complete their withdrawal and the Taliban launch major offensives, taking districts and border crossings.
Tajikistan mobilized 130,000 men from its military reserve in addition to 100,000 active servicemen for the three-hour exercise on Thursday, Rahmon said.
The operation was broadcast on Tajik state television and ended with a military parade headed by Rahmon.
“Due to the unstable situation in the region, I once again remind the people of Tajikistan that we must be ready to protect the peace and stability that have been achieved at a high price,” the Tajik president said in a speech broadcast by the state television.
Rahmon said 20,000 men from the military reserve had been sent to reinforce Tajikistan’s border with Afghanistan.
Hundreds of Afghan servicemen crossed the border into Tajikistan this month as they retreated from a Taliban offensive. Tajikistan later sent them back as the Kabul government arranged special flights to return its soldiers.
Russia, which operates a military base in Tajikistan, plans to hold joint drills there with Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, another former Soviet republic bordering Afghanistan, next month.
Russia’s Interfax news agency quoted Russian military officials as saying that their new infantry fighting vehicles were already being delivered to the Russian base and would be used in the upcoming drills that are set to take place close to the Afghan border.
Sweeping advances
Afghan Taliban militants now control about half of the war-torn country’s 419 district centers, a top US general said on Wednesday.
“Strategic momentum appears to be sort of with the Taliban,” General Mark Milley, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, told a press conference in Washington.
“There’s a possibility of a complete Taliban takeover, or the possibility of any number of other scenarios,” Milley said. “I don’t think the end game is yet written.”
While the militants have yet to capture any of the country’s 34 provincial capitals, they are pressuring about half of them, Milley said.
Afghan security forces are consolidating their positions to protect those major urban centers including Kabul, he said.
The Afghan provinces have been the scene of heavy battles between the Taliban and government security forces since the start of withdrawal of Western forces from Afghanistan in early May.
US President Joe Biden has set a formal end to the US military mission in war-torn Afghanistan for Aug 31, days ahead of his original Sept 11 deadline.
US Central Command said last week over 95 percent of the withdrawal had been completed.
More than 2,400 US troops have been killed in Afghanistan over the past two decades, with 20,000 wounded, according to the Pentagon. Estimates show that over 66,000 Afghan troops have been killed, and over 2.7 million people have had to leave their homes.