On Wednesday, the Taliban took control of Qala-e-Nu, the capital of Badghis province in northwestern Afghanistan, some time before Afghan special forces were able to regain control of the city, while Tajikistan requested the help of a Russian-led regional organization to counter threats from neighboring Afghanistan.

Al-Jazeera correspondent in Kabul, Nasser Shadeed, said that what happened today in the capital of Badghis state is a qualitative development of the course of events since the beginning of the withdrawal of foreign forces, with the initiative of the Taliban taking control of the capital of Badghis state, as the movement almost took control of the city of Qala Nuo, the capital of the state, had it not been for the intervention of the Afghan special forces. The American trainer, who came from Herat.

The reporter stated that the Special Forces were able to break the siege of Qalaat Nou, and expelled the Taliban fighters from the city, with the fall of large numbers of both sides' forces.

And Reuters news agency quoted the governor of Badghis province, Husamuddin Shams, as saying that the Taliban attacked Qala-e-No from 3 directions in the morning, and that the Afghan security forces were confronting them.

The governor said in a previous statement that Taliban militants control 6 districts in the province out of 7, that is, all districts of the state except for the headquarters of the capital.

Video footage obtained by Reuters showed smoke billowing over the city.

Sayed Nizami, a commander of the Special Forces, said in a street, while the sound of gunfire was heard in the background, that the soldiers "expelled the enemy from the area, the enemy incurred heavy losses and now we are advancing and expelling the enemy from the city."

Taliban #terrorist suffered heavy and sustained liability in their failed attempt to capture Qala-e-Naw, #Badghis province.

The bravery of the #ANDSF and their swift and decisive action was highly commendable.

pic.twitter.com/1G42e5N7lp

— Ministry of Defense, Afghanistan (@MoDAfghanistan) July 7, 2021

Security headquarters

An official in the Ministry of Defense - who spoke on condition of anonymity - said that Taliban militants had taken control of the regional office of the National Security Directorate and the police headquarters, and were trying to take over the governor's office before the special forces forced them to retreat.

An Afghan security source told Al Jazeera that about 200 prisoners escaped from the central prison in Badghis, after the Taliban took control of the facility.

It is the first time that the Taliban has attacked a regional capital. According to the peace agreement signed in Doha two years ago between the movement and the United States, the Taliban are prohibited from going to city centers, but those close to the movement said that government forces also committed violations by daily aerial bombardment of Taliban positions.

The correspondent added that the Afghan Defense Minister, Basemullah Mohammadi, said that the country is going through a critical military stage, but he added that the government forces are able to control the situation if efforts are combined.


The Afghan Ministry of Defense said, in a tweet via Twitter published today, Wednesday, that 239 Taliban were killed, 157 others were wounded, and two fighters were arrested, as a result of operations carried out by the security forces in separate areas of the country, during the past 24 hours.

Badghis: The fall of the Cadiz Directorate in the hands of the Mujahideen pic.twitter.com/4a9RcUZiok

— Islamic Emirate (@alemara_ar) July 7, 2021

An Afghan security source told Al Jazeera that 6 policemen were killed in a Taliban attack on a checkpoint west of the capital, Kabul.

The Taliban continues its campaign to control the largest number of areas since the US and NATO forces began gradual withdrawal from the country last May.

On Tuesday, the US military said that its forces in Afghanistan have completed more than 90% of their withdrawal, which is scheduled to end next September.

Talks in Iran في

The intensification of fighting in Afghanistan coincides with high-level talks in Iran, where a delegation from the Afghan government met representatives of the Taliban in Tehran, as announced by the Iranian Foreign Ministry, after months of deadlocked talks between the two parties.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif opened an "Afghan meeting" between representatives of the Kabul government and the Taliban, according to a brief video clip released by the ministry.

Minister Zarif called on "the people of Afghanistan and its political leaders to make difficult decisions for the future of their country," according to an official statement.

Iran is very concerned about the situation in neighboring Afghanistan, which has a long common border with it and has been hosting millions of Afghan refugees for years.

Tajikistan order

On the other hand, Tajikistan on Wednesday asked members of the Collective Security Treaty Organization led by Russia to help address security challenges on its border with Afghanistan.

The authorities of Tajikistan said that it will mobilize 20,000 of its forces to strengthen the protection of the border with its southern neighbor, as more than a thousand Afghan soldiers crossed the Afghan-Tajik border due to the Taliban's advance in Badakhshan province in the far north of Afghanistan.

A security source from Tajikistan told Reuters today that about 300 Afghan soldiers had crossed the border into Tajikistan while they were retreating in front of the advance of Taliban fighters and were flown to their country in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

In a related context, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said, in statements from the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, that his country will do everything in its power to protect its allies from the threat from Afghanistan, including the use of its base in Tajikistan.

Lavrov noted that Russian President Vladimir Putin has held talks with his counterparts in Tajikistan and Uzbekistan and is in contact with other leaders in Central Asia, stressing that commitments within the framework of the Collective Security Treaty Organization remain in full force.

Clashes between the security forces and the Taliban are escalating, at a time when US forces are withdrawing from Afghanistan, and peace talks between the Taliban and the Afghan government are stalling.