Taliban says it controls 85% territory of Afghanistan

[FOOLS_NIGHTMARE]

A Taliban delegation in Moscow said on Friday that the group controlled over 85% of territory in Afghanistan and reassured Russia it would not allow the country to be used as a platform to attack others.
Foreign forces, including the United States, are withdrawing after almost 20 years of fighting, a move that has emboldened Taliban insurgents to try to gain fresh territory in Afghanistan.
That has prompted hundreds of Afghan security personnel and refugees to flee across the border into neighbouring Tajikistan and raised fears in Moscow and other capitals that Islamist extremists could infiltrate Central Asia, a region Russia views as its backyard.
At a news conference in Moscow on Friday, three Taliban officials sought to signal that they did not pose a threat to the wider region however.
The officials said the Taliban would do all it could to prevent Islamic State operating on Afghan territory and that it would also seek to wipe out drug production.
“We will take all measures so that Islamic State will not operate on Afghan territory… and our territory will never be used against our neighbours,” Taliban official Shahabuddin Delawar said through a translator.
The same delegation said a day earlier that the group would not attack the Tajik-Afghan border, the fate of which is in focus in Russia and Central Asia.
Moscow has noted a sharp increase in tensions on the same border, two thirds of which the Taliban currently controls, the Interfax news agency cited Russia’s foreign ministry as saying on Friday.
Russia’s foreign ministry called on all sides of the Afghanistan conflict to show restraint and said that Russia and the Moscow-led CSTO military bloc would act decisively to prevent aggression on the border if necessary, RIA reported.
The Taliban delegation told the same news conference that the group would respect the rights of ethnic minorities and all Afghan citizens should have the right to a decent education in the framework of Islamic law and Afghan traditions.
“We want all representatives of Afghan society … to take part in creating an Afghan state,” said Delawar.

Taliban says it controls 85% territory of Afghanistan

A Taliban delegation in Moscow said on Friday that the group controlled over 85% of territory in Afghanistan and reassured Russia it would not allow the country to be used as a platform to attack others. Taliban negotiator Shahabuddin Dilawar says they have “85% of Afghan soil under their...

ariananews.af

 

[Taimoor Khan]

“We will take all measures so that Islamic State will not operate on Afghan territory… and our territory will never be used against our neighbours,” Taliban official Shahabuddin Delawar said through a translator.


Indian game is up.

 

[HalfMoon]

Taliban already controls 85% of Afghanistan and all border posts with Iran, Pakistan, China, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan.

 

[FuturePAF]

It’s interesting that the Uzbek border was left open. Some deal with the Turks? An opening left for Allies of Kabul to cross? Haven’t been able to take it in general? An interesting development that they went all the way to the Chinese border but haven’t yet secured the Uzbek border. Looks deliberate.

Also the first map is made from an Indian point of view; only they show their claims in GB and Kashmir. The data maybe off (on all border crossing taken) as well. Just saying

 

[ziaulislam]

Real questions

 

[Clutch]

It's pretty much game over for the Kabul government... The Americans and the West were hoping that their quick pre-scheduled exist would have resulted in a prolonged civil war in Afghanistan.... So they can continue to bomb it from afar...


However, the speed of the crumbling of the Kabul government shows how fake, incompetent, and lack of support the puppets had....

They said 6 months the Kabul government will be gone... I say that is too conservative... It's more like 3 months....

 

[HalfMoon]

It’s interesting that the Uzbek border was left open. Some deal with the Turks? An opening left for Allies of Kabul to cross? Haven’t been able to take it in general? An interesting development that they went all the way to the Chinese border but haven’t yet secured the Uzbek border. Looks deliberate.

Also the first map is made from an Indian point of view; only they show their claims in GB and Kashmir. The data maybe off (on all border crossing taken) as well. Just saying

Great observation. Seems like the Uzbek border has been intentionally left open for CARs ethnic people to leave Afghanistan.

It's pretty much game over for the Kabul government... The Americans and the West were hoping that their quick pre-scheduled exist would have resulted in a prolonged civil war in Afghanistan.... So they can continue to bomb it from afar...


However, the speed of the crumbling of the Kabul government shows how fake, incompetent, and lack of support the puppets had....

They said 6 months the Kabul government will be gone... I say that is too conservative... It's more like 3 months....

Whole of Afghanistan would be under Taliban control within a week of last US soldier leaving Afghanistan.

 

[FuturePAF]

Taliban have local ethnic leaders as part of their movement.

 

[Meengla]

Taliban have local ethnic leaders as part of their movement.

Yes. According to, I think, Khursheed Kasuri the Talibans have about 25% Tajiks in their ranks.

Well... the more the Talibans gain or seem to gain, the more the conquered locals will 'cheer' for the Talibans as the Talibans gain control. It is just human nature: To Survive!

And one day, if the Talibans gain total control, then maybe even the so-called Afghan Intelligentsia would stop cursing Pakistan. They go where-ever the wind takes them. Actually, that can be said about just about all Afghan leadership with the exception the Talibans.

 

[HammerHead081]

So who is manning Torkham and who keeps attacking our FC/soldiers from the afghan border? Who has Kunar - the hideout of TTP? Cant we eliminate TTP’s leadership now?

 

[PakFactor]

Yes. According to, I think, Khursheed Kasuri the Talibans have about 25% Tajiks in their ranks.

Well... the more the Talibans gain or seem to gain, the more the conquered locals will 'cheer' for the Talibans as the Talibans gain control. It is just human nature: To Survive!

And one day, if the Talibans gain total control, then maybe even the so-called Afghan Intelligentsia would stop cursing Pakistan. They go where-ever the wind takes them. Actually, that can be said about just about all Afghan leadership with the exception the Talibans.

On main failure of the coalition forces is they paid the wrong people to join their side who ended by taking revenge on locals and leveled up drug lords, etc. They betted on the wrong horse and lost all 20 years worth.

 

[FuturePAF]

Yes. According to, I think, Khursheed Kasuri the Talibans have about 25% Tajiks in their ranks.

Well... the more the Talibans gain or seem to gain, the more the conquered locals will 'cheer' for the Talibans as the Talibans gain control. It is just human nature: To Survive!

And one day, if the Talibans gain total control, then maybe even the so-called Afghan Intelligentsia would stop cursing Pakistan. They go where-ever the wind takes them. Actually, that can be said about just about all Afghan leadership with the exception the Talibans.

Actually I think it’s deeper then that. The 20 years have given a chance to the Talibs to recruit and empower locals that will support them. Like a franchise business model, they may have deputized locals they think they can trust and through them put down roots into these areas. Considering the average Afghan is 18 years old, up to 20 years of putting down roots seems to be paying off for them.

Furthermore The local commanders know whom (tribal chief, local big wig, influential smuggler) not to pi** off and allows them to steer clear of ruffling any unnecessary feathers. Honor and messing with livelihoods can quickly turn neutrals into hostiles, as was the downfall of AQ in Iraq when the Awakenings were carried out in ‘09. Local partners seems to have helped them from making those mistakes. Hence their blitzkrieg across the north when the opportunity presented itself, IMHO.

On main failure of the coalition forces is they paid the wrong people to join their side who ended by taking revenge on locals and leveled up drug lords, etc. They betted on the wrong horse and lost all 20 years worth.

Especially people from the diaspora that didn’t really know the country as well as they said they did. This was also part of what went wrong in Iraq, recruiting the likes of Akmed Chalibi and his “Iraqi National Congress” or some such organization if I remember correctly.