The Afghan army received 3 military bases from the international coalition forces, which began withdrawing their forces from Afghanistan, while the Taliban movement took control of the headquarters of Burkeh District in Baghlen State (north of the country).

An official in the Afghan Defense Ministry told Al-Jazeera that German forces handed over the "Mike Aspen" military base in Balkh province (north) to the Afghan forces.

It is noteworthy that the Mike Aspen base is the second base of its kind that German forces handed over to the Afghan forces.

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

The US Department of Defense (the Pentagon) said, on Wednesday, that it is "committed to a safe and orderly withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan."

The Pentagon added - in an official statement - that it extended the mission of the aircraft carrier "Eisenhower" (Eisenhower) in the region to ensure that the withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan is safe and orderly.

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.

And the US Central Command announced that it had withdrawn loads of about 60 C-17 cargo planes from Afghanistan since US President Joe Biden’s decision to withdraw.

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

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

Violence escalated

In a related context, the Taliban announced through its spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, that its fighters had taken control of the headquarters of Burkeh District in Baghlen Province (northern Afghanistan).

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

The local "Taloo News" channel quoted (unnamed) security sources as saying that local officials had moved their offices to other places in Burke district after the Taliban took control of parts of the province.

Meanwhile, State Police spokesman, Javid Basharat, confirmed the accident, saying, "The security forces have made a tactical retreat and are preparing to launch operations in the district."

In Helmand Province, Afghan officials stated that US warplanes are supporting the Afghan forces in repelling a major Taliban attack in the south of the country, parallel to the continued withdrawal of the US army.

But the rebels still controlled the north of the country.

"The intense US air strikes on Taliban positions prevented them from advancing towards Askar Jah (the capital of Helmand Province)," said the local government official, Ateequllah.

In turn, the head of Helmand Province, Ataullah Afghani, confirmed that the Taliban forces have made progress;

Government forces, however, recaptured some areas.

Heavy fighting has erupted in the southern Helmand province since the end of the week, coinciding with the start of the US military officially withdrawing its remaining forces from Afghanistan.

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

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.

Black list

Politically, the Taliban movement stressed that the failure to delete the names of its leaders from the black list constitutes a major obstacle to resolving the Afghan issue and the success of the negotiations.

The movement confirmed that the expanded "Troika" forum affirmed in a statement its support for deleting these names, and considered it a useful step in the negotiations.

The movement called on the United Nations and other parties to stop insisting on the existence of this list if they are interested in resolving the Afghan issue.