Afghan security personnel flee to Tajikistan as Taliban advance Reuters

DUSHANBE, Tajikistan / KABUL (Reuters) – More than 1,000 Afghan security personnel have fled across the border to Tajikistan after the Taliban advanced into northern Afghanistan, a Tajik border guard said on Monday as dozens of other insurgents were captured.

Sunday’s crossings underscore the rapidly deteriorating situation in the country, following the 20-year war in Afghanistan and the near-complete withdrawal of foreign troops with peace negotiations.

Hundreds of members of the Afghan security force have fled the Taliban’s rapid advances in the north. But Sunday’s withdrawals were the biggest to be confirmed, as part of the U.S. plan to withdraw all foreign troops by Sept. 11, with the U.S. officially leaving its main base in Afghanistan and coming in two days.

The Taliban took over six major districts in northern Badakhshan, bordering Tajikistan and China. After that, 1,037 Afghan soldiers fled the border with the permission of Tajikistan, according to its border guard service.

On Sunday, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani spoke with his Tajik counterpart, President Emomali Rakhmon, over the phone to discuss developments.

“Special attention was paid to the escalating situation in the northern areas of neighboring Afghanistan,” Tajikistan’s presidential office said in a statement.

He added that Rakhmon had expressed concern about “forced crossings” by members of the Afghan security forces. Tajikistan is considering setting up potential refugee camps from Afghanistan, government sources told Reuters.

Rakhmon also spoke with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Monday, assuring that Moscow would help Dushanbe if necessary, both directly and through a regional security bloc, the Kremlin said in a statement.

Rakhmon also called on Central Asian leader Shavkat Mirziyoyev of Uzbekistan and Kassym-Jomart Tokayev of Kazakhstan and ordered a security council meeting to send more troops to the Afghan border, his office said.

A senior Afghan official has confirmed that there have been hundreds of crossings to Tajikistan, but did not know the exact number. “The Taliban cut off all roads and these people had nowhere to go just to cross the border,” he told Reuters on Monday.

Last week, U.S. forces left Bagram Air Base – effectively ending the longest war in U.S. history – as part of their dealings with the Taliban, whom they have fought since September 11 after the radical Islamist movement ousted. 2001 Al Qaeda attacks on the United States.

The Taliban has stopped attacking Western forces, but continues to target Afghan government and security facilities because it achieves rapid territorial gains across the country.

Peace talks between the two sides cannot end.

Badakhshan lawmaker Zabihullah Atiq told Reuters that the Taliban had captured 26 of the 28 districts of the border province – leaving three of them in the hands of insurgents without a fight.

Members of the Afghan security forces used various means to escape, but added that the Taliban had captured dozens of workers in the Ishkashem district, where Tajik border forces blocked any passage to the former Soviet Republic.

Tajik officials say 152 people from Ishkashem have been admitted, but have not commented on whether anyone has been denied entry.

Afghan National Security Adviser Hamdullah Mohib on Monday in Moscow for security talks said government forces had not planned a Taliban offensive, but would counterattack.

Russia, which has a military base in Tajikistan, said the consulate in the northern Afghan city of Mazar-i-Sharif was suspending operations over security concerns, the TASS news agency reported.