Militants of the Taliban movement over the past 24 hours have taken control of 13 regions of Afghanistan, according to Pakistani media. This is the maximum number of areas that the Taliban has been able to capture in such a short time. According to media reports, the Taliban currently controls 110 out of 370 districts of the country.
In particular, the Taliban established control over nine districts in Badakhshan province and two districts in Takhar province in northeastern Afghanistan, one in Paktia in the east of the country and another in the southern province of Kandahar.
The Ministry of Defense of Afghanistan said that over the past day, 224 Taliban were eliminated during battles in nine provinces of the country. The ministry promised to recapture the areas captured by the Taliban.
As per reports, the Taliban militants staged an attack on Bagram Air Base but their assault was repelled by Afghan security forces. One Taliban member was killed and another wounded in the clashes, while no government forces were harmed in the operation.
On 3 June, over 300 Afghan servicemen crossed the state border of Tajikistan after fighting with the Taliban, said the press center of the border troops of the State Committee for National Security of Tajikistan. The report notes that the village of Ovez in Hohon district, Shakhribuzurg district, and Ziraki village in Rogiston district was completely captured by the Taliban movement. During the clashes, the Taliban also captured the Ovez border commandant’s office in Hohon County.
On June 27, under the onslaught of the Taliban, 17 Afghan servicemen were forced to move into the territory of Tajikistan through the 1st post of the Shakhritus border detachment. Prior to that, on June 22, 134 Afghan government forces were forced to retreat from the Sherkhan Bandar Port of Kunduz province to Tajikistan.
The United States and its allies are expected to withdraw their troops from Afghanistan by September 11 this year. In particular, earlier American servicemen left the Bagram Air Base. Several NATO partners have already completed the withdrawal of their forces from Afghanistan.
The withdrawal of troops is taking place against the background of the activation of the rebels from the Taliban movement in Afghanistan. Since May, they have been conducting a large-scale offensive operation and often crowding out government forces.