Taliban claim capture of key Afghan-Tajik border crossing

KABUL, Afghanistan

Taliban insurgents on Tuesday claimed to have captured the Sher Khan dry port in northern Afghanistan, connecting the landlocked country to Tajikistan.

"This morning, an important border port with Tajikistan named Sher Khan Bandar, located in the Imam Sahib district of Kunduz province, with all its annexes, was completely captured by the 'Mujahideen'," Zabihullah Mujahed, the group’s spokesman, said on Twitter.

In a series of tweets, Mujahed said the crossing was captured after the surrender of the Afghan security forces stationed there.

Massoud Wahdat, head of the Kunduz Chamber of Commerce, told Anadolu Agency that the dry port had been under the threat of the Taliban for many days. "Hundreds of goods carrying containers remain stranded at the port," he said.

Sher Khan Port is the war-ravaged Afghanistan's main trade route to Central Asia.

In a series of raids during the past couple of weeks, the Taliban vowed to capture all districts of Kunduz, except the provincial capital, Kunduz city.

Meanwhile, Waheed Omar, President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani's senior adviser for public and strategic affairs, told a press conference on Tuesday that all lost territories would be retaken from the insurgents.

"We face an enemy that until yesterday said they fight because Afghanistan was occupied by foreigners, and now the foreign troops are leaving the country and they still continue the war."

To push back the insurgents, members of the Afghan National Army's Special Forces reached Kunduz, said the Defense Ministry. It added that Gen. Mohammad Ali Yazdani was leading the campaign against the Taliban in Kunduz, which over the past four years fell to the Taliban only briefly.

According to the local daily Etilaz Roz, the Taliban captured 10 more districts in the past 24 hours alone. Among these were Nahreen, Baghlan Markazi, Shah Joy, Qirqeen, Kham Ab, Chora, Ahmad Khail, Laja, Gul Tapa, and Chahar Dara.