The Afghan Taliban claimed Friday (July 9) to have their control over 85 percent of Afghanistan, including a key border crossing with Iran. A few hours after President Joe Biden issued a staunch defense of the US withdrawal, the Taliban said their fighters had seized the border town of Islam Qala, completing an arc of territory from the Iranian border to the frontier with China.
Meanwhile, in Moscow, a delegation of Taliban officials said they controlled some 250 of Afghanistan’s 398 districts — a claim impossible to independently verify and disputed by the government.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told media that the Islam Qala border crossing was “under our full control.” .
With the Taliban having routed much of northern Afghanistan in recent weeks, the government is holding little more than a constellation of provincial capitals that must be largely reinforced and resupplied by air. The air force was under severe strain even before the Taliban’s lightning offensive overwhelmed the government’s northern and western positions, putting further pressure on the country’s limited aircraft and pilots.
The US President Biden said the Afghan people alone should determine their future.
