More than 1,000 Afghan troops fled into neighboring Tajikistan on Monday following clashes with the Taliban, as the insurgents amassed momentum on the battlefield.
The exodus of troops followed another weekend of fighting across much of the northern countryside where the Taliban have overrun dozens of districts, spurring fears that Afghan forces are in crisis.
“They did not want to surrender. They had asked for reinforcements but their call was ignored,” said Abdul Basir, a soldier based with a battalion in Badakhshan province that had members flee over the border.
The United States announced Friday that it had handed over Bagram Air Base — the center of its operations — to Afghan security forces, effectively wrapping up operations in the country following nearly two decades of fighting.
Tajikistan’s national security committee said that 1,037 Afghan government troops had fled into the ex-Soviet country “to save their lives” after clashes with the Taliban during the night.
Hamdullah Mohib, the country’s national security advisor, told Russia’s RIA news agency that an operation was “absolutely” in the works.
Already thinly stretched with supply lines strained, Afghan security forces have been crumbling in the face of the Taliban onslaught, with several bases and outposts surrendering to the insurgents without firing a shot.
