(14 Jul 2021) Afghanistan's Taliban claimed Wednesday to have overrun a strategic border post with Pakistan, the latest in a series of key border crossings to come under their control in recent weeks.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid tweeted a video of Taliban fighters in Spin Boldak in southwestern Afghanistan, a major border crossing with Pakistan.
On the Pakistani side at Chaman, residents reported seeing the Taliban's signature white flag and Taliban fighters in vehicles driving in the area.
The development was the latest in Taliban wins on the ground as American and NATO troops complete their pullout from the war-battered country.
However an Afghan government official from southern Kandahar province, where Spin Boldak is located, denied Taliban had taken control.
He didn't want to be identified by name, without explaining why.
Spin Boldak is a key crossing for all goods from Pakistan's southern port city of Karachi to Afghanistan, a landlocked nation dependent on the Arabian Sea port.
The Taliban have in recent weeks taken a string of major Afghan border crossings, including with Iran, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan.
The border crossing with Iran at Islam Qala in Afghanistan's western Herat province is particularly lucrative and an important trade route.
Last week, the Taliban said they now control 85% of Afghanistan's territory - a claim that is impossible to verify but that was considerably higher than previous Taliban statements that more than a third of the country’s 421 districts and district centers were in their control.
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