Taliban claims control over 85% of Afghanistan's territory, says US was 'forced' to leave

Taliban on July 9 announced that it now controls 85 percent of Afghanistan's territory, although the group’s claims cannot be independently verified. The revelation was made by Shahabuddin Delawar, a key negotiator for the fundamentalist group, who, speaking to media reporters in Moscow, boasted that the controlled area now encompasses 250 out of 398 districts. With US and NATO troops almost out of the Central Asian country, the Taliban is inching closer to re-establish the Islamic Emirate in Afghanistan. 

According to a report by BBC, the militants have successfully captured over two-thirds of the country including an arc of territory from the Iranian border in the west to the frontier with China on the other side of the country. They have also captured five districts in Herat. Meanwhile, a top Russian official disclosed that militants have captured 2/3rd of the territory on the Afghan-Tajik border. 

On July 8, Afghanistan security forces revealed that Taliban fighters have seized control of Islam Qala, a key district in western Afghanistan that encompasses an important border crossing with Iran. Zabihullah Mujahid, a spokesman for the Taliban, said the crossing was "under our full control". Meanwhile, the country's President Ashraf Ghani has reassured citizens that an operation to regain territories was underway. 

Meanwhile, Delawar emphasis that the US withdrawal was a result of the Taliban bringing Afghanistan's population over to its side under the "principle of Islam". "The United States was forced to leave our territory," he said, denying the Afghan peace pact in 2020. He said that there was no agreement with the United States for the Taliban not to attack administrative centers, though he said that it will not take them "by force".

Hospitals to function 

He also said that despite seizing the regions, the Taliban has ensured the functionality of “all administrative bodies and hospitals continue their work on the territory”. However, last week Mohammad Azam Afzali, a member of the Takhar provincial council, which has recently come under the Taliban’s control said that also notified that all government buildings, schools, hospitals have been obliterated and serviced has been halted. Governor Abdullah Qarluq added, "They (Taliban) looted everything, and no services exist.”

Image: AP