Kabul, Afghanistan (AP) -The Taliban are pushing for a surge in Afghanistan, saying it occupied a strategic border crossing with Pakistan on Wednesday.

Development was the latest in the Taliban’s victory on the ground, as US and NATO troops completed their withdrawal from the war-torn country. On Tuesday, Afghan officials said a delegation of government officials, including the head of the state’s reconciliation council, would meet the Taliban in Doha, Qatar, and rush to begin long and deadlocked peace talks between the two sides.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid tweeted a video on Wednesday claiming to show Taliban fighters in Spinboldak, a town in the southeastern part of the Afghan-Pakistan border. On the Pakistani side, residents of the border town of Chaman reported seeing a white flag with the Taliban’s signature flying across the border, and Taliban fighters were riding in cars driving the area. There is.

However, Afghan government officials in southern Kandahar, where Spin Boldak is located, denied the Taliban took control. Officials refused to be identified by name without explaining why.

The Taliban have passed a series of major Afghan border crossings, including Iran, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, in recent weeks. The border crossing with Iran in Islam Qala, Herat, western Afghanistan, is a particularly lucrative and important trade route.

SpinBoldak is the main crossroads for all commodities from the port city of Karachi in southern Pakistan to Afghanistan, a landlocked country that relies on ports in the Arabian Sea.

The Taliban said last week that it controls 85% of Afghanistan’s territory. This is unverifiable, but much higher than the previous Taliban statement that more than one-third of the country’s 421 districts and district centers dominate.

Many Afghan districts fell into the Taliban without fighting as Afghan troops abandoned their posts. Reportedly, Spin Boldak also collapsed without a fight.

In northern Afghanistan, the traditional base of US alliance warlords, more than 1,000 Afghan soldiers fled across the border to northern Tajikistan last week prior to the Taliban’s advance. Iran also reported that hundreds of Afghan troops had invaded Iran.

Obtaining a major border crossing could mean significant income for the Taliban, while strengthening their hands in future negotiations with the Kabul government.

The Taliban surge has displaced tens of thousands of Afghans from their homes. Some were the result of combat, but many were afraid of what life would look like under the Taliban’s control.

The Taliban leadership sought to present a softer image. Even though girls will be able to go to school and women will be able to work when they return to power in Afghanistan. However, in areas where they gained control, villagers reported that women were often ordered internally and only allowed when accompanied by male relatives.

In a video circulated by Mujahid, an unidentified Taliban fighter was able to kill Afghan soldiers across the border, but was ordered by leadership to send them home rather than hurt them. ing.

The Taliban were expected to bring their senior leaders to talks in Doha, where rebels have long maintained their political status.

The negotiations aim to end the steadily increasing violence since the United States signed an agreement with a rebel movement in February last year stating the withdrawal of foreign troops from Afghanistan.

Thousands of Afghans are leaving the country amid growing concerns about what lies ahead and growing concerns about the future. US diplomatic commander General Scott Miller, who officially resigned at a ceremony in Kabul on Monday, warns that increased violence has seriously undermined Afghanistan’s chances of finding a peaceful end to decades of war. did.

Miller also warned of a possible civil war as US allied warlords revived the militia to thwart the Taliban surge. The militia has a violent history.

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Ganon reported from Islamabad.