As reported by Iranian media and Afghan security officials on July 8, the Taliban has captured western Afghanistan’s key district which includes a major border crossing with its neighbouring country Iran.
The seizure comes after the US President Joe Biden’s defence regarding the withdrawal of the US military from Afghanistan. He had said that they do not expect the Taliban to take over the entire nation and that he trusted Afghanistan’s military.
The Taliban has seized over a third of the country’s 400 districts as the US accelerated its final pullout in the start of May. Due to the worsening nature of the current domestic situation, the group has already seized border crossings with Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
Earlier this week, over 1,000 Afghan security personnels had to flee into Tajikistan as the military group had seized most of Badakhshan, a northern province, bordering China as well as Pakistan.
Two Afghan security officials informed Reuters that the Taliban has took over Islam Qala border crossing point in the western province of Herat while the Afghan security and custom officials had fled across the border.
Meanwhile, the spokesperson for the Afghan interior ministry Tariq Arian refuted all the reports and stated that the border crossing was still under the control of government forces.
In the month of February, Islam Qala had witnessed a massive fire eruption following a fuel tanker explosion.
