Afghanistan .. The US army begins the withdrawal and the Taliban intensify their attacks on government forces

The Taliban announced, through its spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid, that its fighters had taken control of the headquarters of Burkeh district in Baghlan province in northern Afghanistan, while US forces began to withdraw on the ground.

For his part, a security source in the Afghan Ministry of Defense told Al-Jazeera that the government forces withdrew from the headquarters of Burke Directorate for logistical and technical reasons, denying that the directorate fell at the hands of Taliban militants.

Fighting has escalated sharply in the past few weeks, and Afghan officials have said the Taliban have intensified their attacks since Washington announced last month that it would withdraw all its forces from the country by 9/11.

The Afghan government says it has recorded more than 100 Taliban attacks on security forces and other government installations in 26 of the country's 34 provinces in the past 24 hours.

American withdrawal

Although the United States did not meet the deadline agreed upon in talks with the Taliban last year, which fell on May 1, it has already begun to withdraw.

The US Central Command announced that it had withdrawn the cargo of about 60 C-17 cargo planes from Afghanistan since the US President’s decision to withdraw.

It added that it had transported 1,300 pieces of equipment to the Defense Logistics Agency for disposal.

She stated that the US army has returned to the Afghan forces the base "Camp Antonik" in Helmand Province (south), which is considered a stronghold of the Taliban movement, indicating that the US army has completed between 2% and 6% of the withdrawal process.

On the other hand, the US military promised to publish estimates of the size of its withdrawal every week, warning that the margin of its estimates may widen over the course of weeks for security reasons.

These estimates will include the evacuation of vehicles, weapons, equipment and soldiers, as well as the transfer or destruction of various equipment to the Afghan forces.

With the completion of the process that began months ago, the Afghan army alone will assume the responsibility of confronting the Taliban, which is controlling or challenging the Kabul authorities over more than half of the Afghan territory.

In a parallel context, an Afghan security official told Al-Jazeera that one was killed and 3 wounded in the detonation of an explosive device targeting a bus carrying doctors north of the Afghan capital, Kabul.