KABUL — The Taliban's claim to hold 90 percent of Afghanistan's
borders is an "absolute lie", the defense ministry said Friday,
insisting government forces were in control of the country's frontiers.
اضافة اعلان
"It is baseless propaganda," deputy spokesman of the Ministry of Defense
Fawad Aman told AFP, a day after the insurgents made the claim, which was not
possible to independently verify.
The Taliban's claim on Thursday came after the group captured key border
crossings with Iran, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Pakistan in recent weeks in
a staggering offensive launched as US-led foreign forces began their final
troop withdrawal from Afghanistan.
On Friday, Aman insisted government forces were in control of the country's
borders and all "main cities and highways".
And even as large-scale fighting decreased during this week's Eid Al-Adha
holiday, the interior ministry accused the Taliban of killing about 100
civilians in the town of Spin Boldak along the border with Pakistan since
seizing the crossing last week.
"Afghan security forces will soon take revenge on these wild
terrorists," interior ministry spokesman Mirwais Stanekzai said on
Twitter.
"The Taliban whenever they get control (of territory), the first thing
they do is destroy public facilities or public infrastructure, harass people
and forcefully displace families," Aman told AFP.
"It happened in Spin Boldak too."
With the withdrawal of American-led foreign forces all but complete, the
resurgent Taliban now controls about half of Afghanistan's roughly 400
districts.
Earlier this week, the chairman of the US joint chiefs of staff General Mark
Milley said the Taliban appear to have "strategic momentum" on the
battlefield.
With the militants putting pressure on around half of the country's
provincial capitals, Afghan troops are in the process of "consolidating
their forces" to protect those major urban centers, Milley added.
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