Afghan government forces are on the run in the northern part of the country with nearly 200 troops fleeing into Tajikistan and Uzbekistan to escape Taliban assaults in recent days. Central Asian governments find they now have fighting on their doorstep.
With a Taliban offensive across Afghanistan, neighboring Tajikistan is feeling the impact of the conflict. Residents of a border town said wounded Afghan soldiers fled into Tajikistan for safety earlier this week as fighting raged nearby. Some Tajiks fear the instability could spill over the border.
Security forces are engaged in a fierce battle against the Taliban across Afghanistan as President Ashraf Ghani prepares to meet his U.S. counterpart, Joe Biden, at the White House later on June 25.
U.S. President Joe Biden has vowed that Afghans who helped the U.S. military will not be left behind as U.S.-led international forces work to complete their withdrawal from Afghanistan by September 11.
Taliban militants have seized dozens of districts across Afghanistan as fighting has surged in recent weeks. Civilians in some parts of the country have begun mobilizing into armed militias, vowing to fight alongside troops to keep the Taliban from taking more territory.
Recent Taliban advances across Afghanistan have prompted the U.S. intelligence community to revise its outlook for how long the Western-backed government in Kabul can hold out after American troops finish their withdrawal from the country later this year, according to The Wall Street Journal.
U.S. government officials are set to discuss the future of Kabul's international airport in Ankara this week after Turkey committed to providing security for the strategic site following the planned pullout of international forces from Afghanistan later this year.
The Taliban has maintained control of Afghanistan's main border crossing with Tajikistan as the group added to recent gains and pressed an offensive to the outskirts of the northern city of Kunduz.
New photos show Afghans forming militias as the United States withdraws its forces and the Taliban’s grip on the country tightens.
Taliban militants have conducted multiple of offensives in Afghanistan's north in recent days, overrunning dozens of districts since May 1, when U.S. and NATO troops began their final withdrawal from the war-wracked country and reportedly capturing the main border crossing with Tajikistan.
The United Nations says it continues to be concerned by the high number of children killed and maimed by all parties in the Afghan conflict -- at least 2,619 last year.
Taliban fighters overran a key district in Afghanistan's northern province of Kunduz on June 21 and surrounded the provincial capital, police said.
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