HEART: The Taliban have captured 58 Afghan border soldiers, the defenceministry said Monday, after days of fighting which saw dozens of troopsbriefly chased into neighbouring Turkmenistan in the latest blow tobeleaguered security forces.
The ministry statement came after reports of days of fighting in BalaMarghab district of Badghis province, in northwestern Afghanistan near theborder with Turkmenistan.
“Unfortunately, 58 BSS (border security soldiers) are captured by theenemies,” a defence ministry tweet said Monday, adding “Search Ops willcontinue until we release them”.
The ministry also said that 58 BSS had “returned home from Turkmenistan”. Aspokesman speaking in a video posted with the tweet said they were “back onduty”, however.
Earlier this week Jamshid Shahabi, the Badghis provincial governorspokesman, said that some security forces had “tactically retreated” acrossthe border into Turkmenistan.
He said the fighting had been going on for 10 days, with 13 security forceskilled and 15 wounded. AFP could not verify the toll.
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On Sunday the Taliban claimed they had captured 72 security forces in thedistrict.
The captures come days after the latest round of talks between the US andthe Taliban ended in Doha, as Washington continues to seek a way out of thenearly 18-year war.
The Afghan government has complained it is being left out of thenegotiations, as many Afghans fear a premature US withdrawal could see theTaliban return to some semblance of power.
