Afghanistan: Taliban Extends Military Control, Captures Key Border Crossing with Iran

By Staff- Agencies

Afghan security officials announced that Taliban militants have seized control of a key district in western Afghanistan that includes an important border crossing with Iran.

This comes as the armed group continues its rapid military advances around the country.

In the last week, the Taliban has overrun areas bordering five countries – Iran, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, China and Pakistan – as foreign forces end their 20-year intervention and the domestic security situation deteriorates.

Pitched battles between Taliban militants and Afghan government forces were also under way in the northern Balkh province bordering Uzbekistan.

Two senior security officials revealed on condition of anonymity that the Islam Qala border crossing with Iran, located in Herat province, had fallen to the Taliban and that Afghan security and customs officials had fled across the border.

Another security official militants Taliban fighters had seized five districts in Herat without a fight.

Earlier this week, more than 1,000 Afghan security personnel fled into Tajikistan as the Taliban captured most of the northern province of Badakhshan, which also borders China and Pakistan.

The defense ministry said Afghan government forces earlier on Thursday wrested back control of Qala-e-Naw, capital of the western province of Badghis, which had been stormed by the Taliban on Wednesday.

The rest of Badghis province is in Taliban hands. Western security officials say the Taliban has captured more than 100 districts in Afghanistan.

The Taliban says it holds more than 200 districts in 34 provinces comprising over half the country. Main cities remain under government control.

The group has been gaining territory for weeks but accelerated its thrust as the United States vacated its main Afghan base, effectively ending an occupation that began with the removal of the Taliban government in 2001.