KABUL: The Taliban on Wednesday claimed they had captured the strategic border crossing of Spin Boldak along the frontier with Pakistan, continuing sweeping gains made since foreign forces stepped up their withdrawal from Afghanistan.
“The Mujahideen have captured an important border town called Wesh in Kandahar,” said Zabihullah Mujahid, a Taliban spokesperson in a statement.
“With this, the important road between (Spin) Boldak and Chaman and Kandahar customs have come under Mujahideen control,” he said. Mujahid assured traders and residents there that their “security is guaranteed”.
Meanwhile, when contacted for a comment, Chaman Assistant Commissioner Arif Kakar told Dawn.com that security was on high alert. “The Friendship Gate at the Chaman border has been closed,” he said. No comment has been made so far from Pakistan regarding the capturing of the crossing.
The situation on the ground could not immediately be verified, but according to AFP, social media was abuzz with pictures of Taliban fighters looking relaxed in what appeared to be the frontier town.
The taking of Spin Boldak would be the latest in a string of border crossings and dry ports seized by the Taliban in recent weeks.
Its seizure follows days of heavy fighting across Kandahar province, where the government was forced to deploy commando fighters to prevent the fall of the provincial capital even as the insurgents inched closer to taking the frontier crossing.
Afghan officials insisted they still had control.
“The terrorist Taliban had some movements near the border area […] The security forces have repelled the attack,” interior ministry spokesman Tareq Arian told AFP.
Residents disputed the Afghan government’s claims.
“I went to my shop this morning and saw that the Taliban are everywhere. They are in the bazaar, in police HQ and custom areas. I can also hear the sound of fighting nearby,” said Raz Mohammad, a shopkeeper who works near the border.
The interior ministry insisted the attack had been repelled and government forces had control, but a Pakistan security source said the Taliban’s white flag was flying over the town.
“The terrorist Taliban had some movements near the border area. The security forces have repelled the attack,” interior ministry spokesman Tareq Arian told AFP.
The particular border crossing is arguably one of the most strategically valuable for the Taliban.
It provides direct access to Balochistan along with an unknown number of reserve fighters who regularly enter Afghanistan to help bolster their ranks.
A major highway leading from the border connects to Karachi and its sprawling port on the Arabian Sea, which is considered a linchpin for Afghanistan’s billion-dollar heroin trade that has provided a crucial source of revenue for the Taliban’s war chest over the years.
With the United States just weeks away from wrapping up its final withdrawal from Afghanistan, the hardline group has swept through much of the country, and the government now holds little more than a constellation of provincial capitals that must largely be resupplied by air.
The sheer speed and scale of the insurgents’ multi-pronged offensives have stirred fears that Afghan security forces are being overwhelmed.
In Washington earlier this week, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said success fending off the Taliban would depend on the country’s leaders, and not so much what the United States does.
“They know what they need to do,” Kirby told reporters.
TALIBAN RESTORE OLD RULES IN NEWLY SEIZED AFGHAN TERRITORY:
Days after the Taliban captured a remote district in Afghanistan’s north, they issued their first orders in the form of a letter to the local imam.
“It said women can’t go to the bazaar without a male companion, and men should not shave their beards,” said Sefatullah, 25, a resident of Kalafgan district.
The insurgents also banned smoking, he added, and warned that anybody violating the rules “will be seriously dealt with”.
The Taliban are making huge advances across the country as they capitalise on the final withdrawal of foreign troops — capturing districts, seizing key border crossings, and encircling provincial capitals.
In some areas, they are again introducing the harsh interpretation of Islamic rule that earned them notoriety until being overthrown by the US-led invasion that followed the September 11 attacks.
Last month, they took Shir Khan Bandar, a northern customs post that connected the country to Tajikistan over a US-funded bridge that spanned the Panj river.
“After Shir Khan Bandar fell, the Taliban ordered women not to step out of their homes,” said Sajeda, who told AFP she worked in a local factory at the time.
“There were many women and young girls doing embroidery, tailoring and shoe-making […] The Taliban’s order has now terrified us,” she told AFP by phone.
The Taliban ruled Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001 according to a hardline interpretation of the Holy Quran.
Women were ordered to stay indoors unless accompanied by a male relative, girls were banned from school, and those found guilty of crimes such as adultery were stoned to death.
Men had relatively more freedom but were ordered not to shave, would be beaten if they didn’t attend prayers, and were told to only wear traditional clothing.
Afghanistan is deeply conservative and some rural pockets of the country adhere to similar rules even without Taliban oversight — but the insurgents have tried to impose these edicts even in more modern centres.
A statement purporting to come from the Taliban, circulated on social media this week, ordered villagers to marry off their daughters and widows to the movement’s foot soldiers.
“All imams and mullahs in captured areas should provide the Taliban with a list of girls above 15 and widows under 45 to be married to Taliban fighters,” said the letter, issued in the name of the Taliban’s cultural commission.
It brought back bitter memories of the edicts issued by the Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice during the Taliban’s first stint in power.
Keen to project a softer image this time around, they have denied issuing any such statement and dismissed it as propaganda.
“These are baseless claims,” said Zabihullah Mujahid, a spokesman for the group.
“They are rumours spread using fabricated papers.”
But people in areas recently taken by the insurgents insist there is truth to the social media buzz.
In Yawan district on the Tajikistan border, the Taliban gathered residents at a local mosque after taking over.
“Their commanders told us that nobody is allowed to leave home at night,” Nazir Mohammad, 32, told AFP.
“And no person — especially the youths — can wear red and green clothes,” he said, referring to the colours of the Afghan flag.
Their orders didn’t stop there.
“Everybody should wear a turban and no man can shave,” said Mohammad.
“Girls attending schools beyond sixth grade were barred from classes.”
The Taliban insist they will protect human rights — particularly those of women — but only according to “Islamic values”, which are interpreted differently across the Muslim world.
For Sajeda on the Tajikistan border, just a few days of Taliban rule was enough — and she fled south to the nearby city of Kunduz.
“We will never be able to work in areas under the Taliban,” she said, “So, we left”.
