Officials: Taliban hold all of Afghanistan’s border posts

PTI, Aug 15, 2021, 1:10 PM IST

Kabul: The Taliban now hold all of Afghanistan’s border crossings amid their offensive across the country.

Pakistan’s Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said that the Taliban had taken the Torkham border crossing. He told local broadcaster Geo TV that Pakistan halted cross-border traffic there because of it.

Torkham represented the last post still under government control.

Helicopters are landing at the US Embassy in Kabul as diplomatic vehicles leave the compound amid the Taliban advanced on the Afghan capital.

The rapid shuttle runs by helicopters came Sunday as wisps of smoke rose from the embassy’s roof. US officials previously said that diplomats inside had begun destroying sensitive documents.

The moves came as the Taliban earlier seized the last major city outside of Kabul held by the country’s increasingly isolated central government, cutting off the capital to the east and tightening their grip on the nation as tens of thousands fled their rapid advance.