Afghan envoys meet Taliban in Teheran

TEHERAN－An Afghan government delegation met with Taliban representatives in Teheran on Wednesday, said the Iranian foreign ministry. The Islamist militia has been pressing a lightning advance amid the pullout of Western troops.

Opening the Teheran talks is Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif who welcomed the departure of the United States from its eastern borders.

"Today, the people and political leaders of Afghanistan must make difficult decisions for the future of their country," he said.

Negotiator Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanikzai headed the Taliban delegation while former vice-president Younus Qanooni represented the government.

On Tuesday, Afghan authorities vowed to retake all the districts lost to the Taliban as the pullout of US forces neared completion.

Hundreds of commandos were deployed to counter Taliban's blistering attacks in the north, a day after more than 1,000 government troops fled into neighboring Tajikistan.

But on Wednesday, local officials said the Taliban attacked the Badghis provincial capital Qala-i-Naw, the first regional seat they have entered since the launch of their latest offensive.

The attack on Qala-i-Naw marks the first time the Taliban have attempted to overrun a provincial capital.

Urban onslaught

Taliban militants are already in control of all the surrounding countryside in Badghis Province.

The US Central Command announced US withdrawal from the country, ordered in April by President Joe Biden, was now more than 90 percent complete, an indication that Afghan forces are increasingly on their own in the Taliban battle.

For months, the Taliban have been effectively surrounding several provincial capitals across the country, with observers predicting that the militants were waiting for the complete withdrawal of foreign forces before ordering an onslaught on urban areas.

Russian President Vladimir Putin told Emomali Rahmon, the president of Tajikistan, that Moscow would help its neighbor contend with the fallout from the Western forces' exit from Afghanistan if needed.

Rahmon has ordered the mobilization of 20,000 military reservists to bolster his country's border with Afghanistan.

Speaking on Wednesday during a visit to Laos, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Russia is ready to use its military base in Tajikistan－one of its biggest abroad－to ensure the security of its allies in the region.

"We are closely watching what is happening in Afghanistan where the situation has a tendency to swiftly deteriorate including against the backdrop of the hasty exit of American and other NATO troops," Lavrov said.

"They were unable to achieve visible results when it comes to stabilizing the situation during the decades they spent there."