-Report says Afghan Forces plan counterattack against Taliban
DM Monitoring
KABUL: More than 1,000 Afghan security personnel fled across the border into Tajikistan following Taliban advances in northern Afghanistan, the Tajik border guard service said on Monday.
The crossings underscore a rapidly deteriorating situation in the country as foreign troops near a complete withdrawal after 20 years of war in Afghanistan.
Hundreds of Afghan security force members have fled swift Taliban advances in the north, but Sunday’s retreats were the largest confirmed, coming just two days after the United States officially vacated its main base
in Afghanistan as part of a plan to withdraw all foreign troops by September 11.
The Taliban took over six key districts in the northern province of Badakshan, which borders both Tajikistan and China, following which 1,037 Afghan servicemen fled across the border with Tajikistan’s permission, the border guard service said.
On Sunday, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani spoke to his Tajik counterpart, President Emomali Rakhmon, over the phone to discuss the developments.
“Special attention was paid to the escalation of the situation in Afghanistan’s northern areas adjacent to Tajikistan,” a statement from the Tajik president’s office said. It added that Rakhmon expressed concern about the “forced crossings” by the Afghan security force members. A senior Afghan official confirmed there had been hundreds of crossings into Tajikistan but did not know the exact number. “The Taliban cut off all the roads and these people had nowhere to go but to cross the border,” he told Reuters on Monday.
Last week, the United States vacated Bagram Airbase — bringing an effective end to the longest war in its history — as part of an understanding with the Taliban, against whom it has fought for two decades.
The Taliban has ceased attacks on Western forces, but continues to target Afghan government and security installations as it makes rapid territorial advances across the country. Peace talks between the two sides remain inconclusive.
Meanwhile, Afghanistan government forces are planning a counteroffensive in the country’s northern provinces after losing ground to the Taliban, Russia’s RIA news agency has cited an adviser to Afghan President Ashraf Ghani as saying.
National security adviser Hamdullah Mohib told RIA in an interview on Monday that government forces had not expected the Taliban offensive but would “absolutely, definitely” counterattack.
The Taliban’s march through northern Afghanistan gained momentum overnight with the capture of several districts from fleeing Afghan forces, several hundred of whom fled across the border into neighbouring Tajikistan, officials said. On Monday, Tajikistan’s national security committee said 1,037 Afghan government troops had fled into the ex-Soviet country “in order to save their lives” after clashes with the Taliban during the night.
“Taking into account the principle of good neighbourliness and adhering to the position of non-interference in the internal affairs of Afghanistan, the military personnel of the Afghan government forces were allowed to enter Tajik territory,” the committee said in a statement distributed by Tajikistan’s state information agency Khovar. It said the Taliban has taken “full control” of six districts of the Badakhshan province bordering Tajikistan in Afghanistan’s northeast.
The Taliban now control roughly a third of all 421 districts and district centers in Afghanistan.
