The Afghan Ministry of Interior announced that 7 Taliban were killed and 13 others wounded in an operation by Afghan forces with the support of the Air Force in Helmand, while the Taliban confirmed that their forces had taken control of the strategic Marjah area in Helmand province.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said - through his official account on Twitter - that the Afghan forces fled the area and the police headquarters, and that the movement seized a large number of weapons, cars and ammunition.

#Al-Fath:


Important: I have a strategic question, Marjah, that the Wilayat of Helmand trampled the Mujahideen Iftad.


A young man, a dashman, is a slanderer, Azmarkuz, and Sowali remembers Baqumandani, a wish, and the completion of the annexes of Ann Farrar Kurd. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .


Ziyad's enumeration of weapons, equipment and missions trampled by Mujahideen Iftad


It is an arrangement, and it is complete under the control of the Mujahideen Dramed.


Ahmadi

— Zabihullah (..Zabihullah m) (@Zabehulah_M33) July 22, 2021

A government source told Al Jazeera that Taliban militants control the headquarters of Ghaziabad Directorate in Kunar Province, eastern Afghanistan.

Simultaneously, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani arrived in the city of Jalalabad, to assess the security and field situation in the eastern states. The Afghan president will meet with officials, tribal leaders and representatives of civil society.

Turkey's operation of Kabul airport

On the other hand, the US State Department's political affairs official, Victoria Nuland, said that Turkey's operation of Kabul International Airport is of vital importance to Washington and its diplomatic presence in Afghanistan.

This came in her speech during a symposium entitled "US Policy on Turkey", organized by the Committee on Foreign Relations of the US Senate.

The US official added that her country has close cooperation with Turkey in many files, especially the fight against terrorism, Ukraine and Libya.

She pointed to Turkey's protection of millions of Syrians in the northern part of their country from the attacks of the Assad regime, noting that this step prevents a global refugee crisis.

It also praised Turkey for hosting 3.6 million refugees on its soil.

And she welcomed Turkey's intention to keep its forces in Afghanistan, coinciding with the withdrawal of the United States and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), their soldiers from there.

Hamid Karzai International Airport is one of the most important bridges linking Afghanistan with other countries, and the lifeline of the Afghan people.

The airport is secured by the Afghan Air Force, and periodically by foreign military agencies.

On Tuesday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that his country is studying the possibility of operating Kabul Airport in Afghanistan, if its conditions are met.

Russian statements

Among the repercussions of the current developments in Afghanistan, Andrei Rudenko, Deputy Russian Foreign Minister, pointed out that what he described as international terrorist organizations are strengthening their presence in northern Afghanistan.

The Russian official attributed - in a statement to the Russian Sputnik Agency - the reason for the US withdrawal, which he described as hasty, warning that the regions of northern Afghanistan were turning into new hot spots.

Rudenko said the terrorist militants were brought from war zones in the Middle East and North Africa, as well as people from Central Asia.

He stressed that Moscow will take all necessary measures when necessary to prevent any aggression against Tajikistan, within the framework of the strategic alliance between the two countries, noting that the forces of the Russian base No. "201" stationed in Tajikistan are conducting tactical military maneuvers on an ongoing basis.

He also stated that his country is in constant contact with Turkmenistan against the backdrop of the worsening situation in Afghanistan to assess the situation with regard to common threats and challenges, as he put it.

Afghan denunciation

In the same context, the Afghan Foreign Ministry denounced the statements of the Russian envoy to Afghanistan that the Taliban are tired of war and are looking for a peaceful solution to the conflict.

The Afghan Foreign Ministry demanded the Russian envoy to provide credible information and documents that show the Taliban's will for a peaceful solution, and said that there is still no indication of the Taliban's commitment to ending violence and reaching a political agreement.

The Afghan Foreign Ministry added that the Taliban, since the Doha agreement, has violated its commitments to reduce violence and sever its ties with terrorist groups.

The Afghan Foreign Ministry stressed that the Taliban's acquisition of power by military force contradicts the announcement of the Moscow meeting, and called on Afghanistan's international partners to hold the Taliban responsible for its actions and to exert pressure on it to stop the bloodshed.


The Taliban controls half of the provinces

On the other hand, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the US Army, General Mark Milley, said that nearly half of the Afghan provinces are under the control of the Taliban, while US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin stated that his country's focus is on preventing the return of the threat of al-Qaeda, and the possibility of exporting terrorism from Afghanistan to America.

General Milley said in a press conference that the Taliban has not yet controlled any of the capitals of the 34 provinces in Afghanistan, and indicated that the scenario of the movement's control of the entire country is presented among many other scenarios.

The US military official stated that more than 200 districts out of 419 are currently under the control of the Taliban, and Milley himself said last month that the movement controls 81 districts, and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said that the Taliban gained "strategic momentum" in its attacks across Afghanistan, However, her victory is not guaranteed at all.

General Milley attributed the momentum that the Taliban gained in the field to the approach taken by the Afghan forces, which he said are "currently gathering their ranks and concentrating their efforts on abandoning uninhabited areas, because their priority is to protect populated areas and civilians."

The Taliban have intensified their military operations since the start of the withdrawal of foreign forces from the country last May, and it is expected to be completed at the end of next month. The movement has been able to control large areas and border crossings and cordon off cities.