Afghan govt delegation meets Taliban in Tehran

TEHRAN: An Afghan government delegation met with Taliban representatives in Tehran Wednesday, the Iranian foreign ministry said, as the Islamist militia pressed a lightning advance amid the pullout of US troops.

Opening the talks, Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif welcomed the departure of its US foe from its eastern borders but warned: “Today the people and political leaders of Afghanistan must make difficult decisions for the future of their country.” Deputy chief negotiator Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanikzai headed the Taliban delegation while former vice president Younus Qanooni represented the government, the Iranian ministry said.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid confirmed Stanikzai’s visit to Tehran to “discuss issues of mutual interest”. But he made no reference to any Afghan government delegation, saying only that Stanikzai was holding talks with “some Afghan personalities”. “They will discuss and exchange opinions on the current situation of the country and finding a solution through talks,” Mujahid added. In his opening remarks, the Iranian foreign minister hailed the “defeat” of US troops after two decades of war that had caused “extensive damage” but warned of the “unfavourable results of continuing the conflict”.

Iran hosts several million Afghan refugees and migrant workers and is deeply concerned about the intensifying turmoil in the neighbouring country. Zarif appealed to the warring parties in Afghanistan to return to the negotiating table, calling “commitment to political solutions the best choice for Afghanistan’s leaders and political movements”. “We are proud to have stood alongside our noble Afghan brothers and sisters during the jihad against the foreign occupiers,” he added, in a video excerpt of his speech released by the ministry. On Tuesday, Afghan authorities vowed to retake all the districts lost to the Taliban as the pullout of US forces neared completion.

Hundreds of commandos were deployed to counter the insurgents’ blistering offensive in the north, a day after more than 1,000 government troops fled into neighbouring Tajikistan.

But on Wednesday, the Taliban attacked the Badghis provincial capital Qalat-i-Naw, the first regional seat they have entered since the launch of their latest offensive, local officials said.

The US Central Command meanwhile announced that the American withdrawal from the country, ordered in April by President Joe Biden, was now more than 90 percent complete, underscoring that Afghan forces are increasingly on their own in the battle with the Taliban.

Meanwhile, Taliban launched a major assault on a provincial capital in Afghanistan on Wednesday, the first since the US military began its final drawdown of troops from the country, as insurgents press on with a blistering offensive.

Fierce fighting erupted in the western city of Qala-i-Naw, the capital of Badghis, with the militants seizing police headquarters and offices of the country’s spy agency. As news of the morning assault spread, social media was flooded with videos of clashes — with some showing armed Taliban fighters on motorbikes entering the city as onlookers cheered.

Afghanistan’s Defence Minister Bismillah Mohammadi said government forces were in a “very sensitive military situation”, adding that “the war is raging” with the Taliban. The onslaught came hours after Washington announced US forces had completed more than 90 percent of their withdrawal from Afghanistan, and as the Kabul government held talks with Taliban representatives in neighbouring Iran.

“The enemy has entered the city, all the districts have fallen,” Badghis governor Hessamuddin Shams told reporters in a text message. He attempted to calm the residents later in another video message, appearing with a rifle — with gunfire rattling in the distance. “I assure you that we will, all of us, together defend the city,” he said.

Provincial council chief Abdul Aziz Bek said some security officials had surrendered to the Taliban, while council member Zia Gul Habibi said the insurgents had entered the city’s police headquarters and the local office of the country’s spy agency.

Habibi said later the situation was stabilising, but fighting continued. “The city is not falling, but the Taliban are still in the city and airplanes are hitting their positions,” she said, adding that the military had deployed drones to strike the insurgents.

“Everybody was terrified when they heard the Taliban had entered the city,” said Aziz Tawakil, a resident of Qala-i-Naw. “We could hear sounds of gunfire and explosions. Helicopters and planes are flying over the city and we can see they are sometimes hitting some areas of the city.”

Hours after the attack, the defence ministry said its troops had cleared “most parts” of the city. “In the next few hours all parts of the city will be cleared,” ministry spokesman Fawad Aman said on Twitter.

Afghan vice-president Amrullah Saleh tweeted that the bodies of “tens” of Taliban fighters were lying in the streets. “I demand the respected ICRC (Red Cross) and other organizations to transfer the bodies. The weather is hot, and we do not support disrespecting the bodies,” he said.

Video also showed the Taliban releasing prisoners from a city prison, but governor Shams said later most of them had been recaptured. The fight for the city coincided with a high-level summit across the border in Iran, where an Afghan delegation met with Taliban representatives in Tehran, according to the Iranian foreign ministry.

Opening the Tehran talks, Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif welcomed the US departure from its eastern neighbour but warned: “Today the people and political leaders of Afghanistan must make difficult decisions for the future of their country.”

After they took much of the north in recent weeks, the fall of Badghis would further tighten the Taliban’s grip on western Afghanistan. Their forces have also inched closer to the nearby city of Herat, near the border with Iran.

If the Taliban capture Qala-i-Naw it will be of “strategic value as it creates a psychological effect of Afghan forces rapidly losing territory like dominoes against an unstoppable force”, said Afghanistan expert Nishank Motwani.

Over the years, the Taliban have launched periodic assaults on provincial capitals across the country, briefly holding urban areas before being dislodged by US airstrikes and Afghan ground forces.