Status: 07/09/2021 12:05 p.m.
The Taliban have succeeded in bringing under their control two hubs that are important for Afghanistan’s trade. Despite the militia’s massive territorial gains, US President Biden is defending the withdrawal of troops from the country.
The radical Islamic Taliban are expanding their control over Afghan areas more and more. Most recently they succeeded in taking two important hubs for the country’s trade.
Oliver Mayer, ARD New Delhi, on the worsening situation in Afghanistan
Tagesschau24 12:00 p.m., July 9th, 2021
On the one hand, Islam Kala fell to the militias without resistance from the security forces stationed there, according to political representatives from the Herat province concerned.
Millions of dollars in customs revenue from trade
Islam Kala is on the Afghan border with Iran and Turkmenistan. The central connection route runs through the town, especially for trade with Iran. As the news agency dpa reported, citing local authorities, millions of euros flowed into the coffers of the Afghan central government in Kabul every day through the tariffs levied there.
Taliban on the rise again in Afghanistan
Oliver Mayer, ARD New Delhi, daily news 5:00 p.m., July 9, 2021
At the moment, the movement of goods across the border is apparently suspended. However, the Taliban announced that they would resume operations later that day. “The Islam Kala border is now under our complete control and we will try to get it back into operation today,” Taliban spokesman Sabihullah Mujahid told AFP.
The government in Kabul, however, said it wanted to regain control of the border crossing. “All Afghan security forces, including the border police, are present in the region,” said a spokesman for the Afghan interior ministry.
Captured hub for gas imports
In addition to Islam Kala, the Taliban were also able to take control of the city of Torghundi in the north of Herat province. Afghanistan carries out a large part of its exports via the city on the border with Turkmenistan, including to Europe. In addition, the country has so far imported a large part of its gas and fuel via the trade route running through the town.
Since the start of the withdrawal of international troops from Afghanistan, the Taliban have massively expanded their influence. The militia itself speaks of controlling around 85 percent of the areas in Afghanistan. According to Russia, too, the fighters are occupying more and more regions, including two thirds of the Afghan-Tajik border. “We are seeing a sharp rise in tensions on the Afghan-Tajik border,” the AFP news agency quoted the spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Sakharova. The Taliban had “quickly occupied large parts of the border districts”.
Biden defends withdrawal of troops
At the beginning of May, the US began withdrawing its troops stationed in Afghanistan. The withdrawal should actually be completed by September 11th, now US President Joe Biden expects that all US soldiers will be able to return home by the end of August.
He defended the decision to end the Afghanistan mission after almost 20 years. The Afghans have to decide for themselves how their future and their country should be shaped, stressed Biden. But he also admitted that the Taliban are now stronger than ever since the fall of their regime in late 2001.
Germany also ordered its armed forces back as part of the troop withdrawal. The soldiers of the Bundeswehr have completely withdrawn from Afghanistan since the end of June.