The Taliban attacked one of the areas of Kandahar

1 Turkey — Syria

The ’Anadolu’ news agency reported with a reference to the Turkish Defense Ministry that the Turkish security forces have killed at least 5 fighters from the ’’Kurdistan Workers’ Party’’, which Turkey considers a terrorist organization. The shoot-outs reportedly took place in north of Syria, near the border with Turkey. The Ministry of Defense of Turkey stated that there was a preparation for a terrorist attack.

2 Afghanistan

The ’TOLOnews’ agency reported while citing a source in the Afghan security forces that the Taliban attacked one of the districts of Kandahar — specifically, they attacked 2 checkpoints. The Kandahar police stated that reinforcements have arrived in the city. The Taliban also took control of 2 checkpoints in the Herat province, on the borders with Iran and Turkmenistan. The Taliban confirmed the information about the capturing of the Islam-Kala checkpoint on the border with Iran. The 1TV reported that the Afghan Interior Ministry has denied the reports on losing the governmental control over the check point.

3 Russia — Afghanistan

The head of the Taliban delegation, currently in Moscow, stated that the ’Taliban’ controls 174 counties in Afghanistan from 398 — which is 85% of the country. The Taliban spokesman stated that «such events can’t be caused by force of arms alone», and «the population welcomes the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan». The Pentagon spokesman John Kirby stated that the Taliban took control of dozens of regional centers in Afghanistan. Washington believes that the Taliban is going to threaten the provincial centers as well. John Kirby stated that the USA still believe that the resolution of the situation in Afghanistan should be only political. The Pentagon spokesman noted that the Afghan Forces have the capacity to counter the Taliban. He noted that the USA have helped Afghanistan to create an air force that the Taliban doesn’t have, as well as the ground forces. The USA also provided Afghanistan with modern weapons.

4 The USA

Joe Biden announced that the US military mission in Afghanistan will end on 31st of August. He noted that the USA will continue to supply and fund the military and security services of Afghanistan, but the Afghans themselves must define the future of the country. In his opinion, the retention of the US troops in Afghanistan for at least a year carries security risks. The US troops could even get stuck in Afghanistan for a long time. Joe Biden added that the mission was to prevent the terrorist threats from Afghanistan against the USA. The task has been completed. He denied the reports that the US intelligence services predict the fall of the Afghan government after the pulling of the US military. According to him — the leaders of Afghanistan «do have the ability to make sure that the government persists».

5 The USA — Turkey

The Pentagon Press Officer John Kirby stated that during a telephone conversation with the Turkish National Defense Minister Hulusi Akar, the Pentagon Chief Lloyd Austin discussed the security matters at the Kabul airport during the pulling of the US troops from Afghanistan. It was noted that «Austin and Akar exchanged their views on the security issues, and agreed to continue to interact on the agreements on the Kabul international airport.»

6 Kyrgyzstan — Tajikistan

The border service of the Kyrgyz State Committee for National Security stated that Tajik servicemen detained a Kyrgyz border guard during a shoot-out. It was noted that currently, the border guards of both sides «are at the scene of the firefight, and they are investigating the event». Earlier Kyrgyzstan stated that on 8th of July, on the Kyrgyz-Tajik section of the state border, the Kyrgyz border guards were suddenly attacked by the Tajik border guards. It was reported that 1 Kyrgyz serviceman was killed during the shoot-out. According to the preliminary data, there were dead and wounded on the Tajik side as well. Constantine Reztsov, specially for the ANNA NEWS