Afghanistan: Taliban advance towards the borders with Iran and Tajikistan
US leaves Afghanistan after 20 years.
The "double game" of the Taliban who take advantage
Afghanistan, the last soldier has returned.
The Italian mission has ended
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July 15, 2021 The Taliban proposed a
three-month ceasefire to the
Kabul government
in exchange for the
release of 7,000 prisoners
and the
removal of the organization from the UN blacklist
.
This was stated by Nader Naderi, a member of the Afghan government's negotiating team with the Taliban political group in Qatar. This is a '' great '' request from the Taliban, he said, stressing that the release of the 5,000 detainees carried out since the beginning of the talks between the parties' 'has not helped to improve the situation, rather it has increased violence' '.
Meanwhile, the
militiamen continue to advance
and yesterday they took control of the Afghan side of the Spin Boldak crossing, on the border with
Pakistan
, forcing neighbors to close it. Kabul denied the fact but extensive photographic documentation circulates on social media, while witnesses on the other side of the border confirmed that about 150 militiamen gathered asking to be allowed to enter Afghanistan.
Former Finance Minister
Mohammad Mohaqiq
, adviser to Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, announced that a delegation from the Kabul government will travel to Doha in the coming days for new talks with the Taliban. Also in view of the event that Pakistan will organize on the situation in Afghanistan. "As a citizen, and not as a political leader, I believe that peace cannot be achieved by force," Mohaqiq told Tolo News. "Nothing is conquered by military means," he added, contesting the advance of the Taliban.
"Unruly commuters"
There is pressure on the other side of the border too: Pakistani guards used tear gas to disperse about 400 Afghans trying to cross the border; according to witnesses 1,500 gathered on the spot, waiting to be able to pass. A senior official in Chaman said the situation was "under control".
"This morning a crowd of about 400 unruly commuters tried to forcibly cross the gate to reach Afghanistan. They threw stones, forcing us to use tear gas," said a security official at Chaman's southwestern border, who said. asked for anonymity. Pakistan closed its border with Afghanistan yesterday at the Chaman border crossing following the action of the Taliban.
The Taliban said that "an official meeting has been set today to open the border and it is hoped that it will take place in a day or two".
The crossing connects Afghanistan with the province of Balochistan, where the leaders of the group have taken refuge for decades and there are an unknown number of fighters who regularly cross the border to reinforce their ranks. From the border post passes one of the main arteries leading to Karachi, a commercial hub and gateway to the Arabian Sea, crucial for the heroin trafficking that supplies the Taliban coffers. Spin Boldak is the latest in a series of crossings conquered by militiamen in recent weeks, which have taken possession of border posts with Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Iran.
Russian exercises in Tajikistan
Russian military exercises in Tajikistan began yesterday and will continue until the end of the week, following the advance of the Taliban in northern Afghanistan. A thousand soldiers from the 201st Russian military base in Tajikistan were involved in the maneuvers organized to test "readiness for combat operations in a dynamically changing situation," as Russian defense sources explained.
Even yesterday, several hundred fleeing Afghan soldiers crossed the border with Tajikistan. The Taliban control a large portion of the long border between Tajikistan and Afghanistan, including the Shir Khan Bandar crossing. The Russian base, opened in 2005, houses 5,500 soldiers.