In a statement the Taliban said Turkey’s decision to provide security to Kabul airport when US-led forces leave was “reprehensible”.
“We consider stay of foreign forces in our homeland by any country under whatever pretext as occupation,” the group said, days after Ankara agreed with Washington to provide security for Kabul airport.
As foreign forces wind up their withdrawal — due to be completed by August 31 — the situation on the ground is changing rapidly.
The top US general in Afghanistan relinquished his command on Monday at a ceremony in the capital, the latest symbolic gesture bringing America’s longest war nearer to an end.
The pace of the pullout — and multiple offensives launched by the Taliban — have raised fears that Afghanistan’s security forces could be swiftly overwhelmed, particularly without vital US air support.
Around 650 American service members are expected to remain in Kabul, guarding Washington’s sprawling diplomatic compound.
But Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday he had agreed with the United States on the “scope” of how to secure Kabul airport.
Peace talks between the insurgents and the government supposedly taking place in Doha have largely fizzled out, and the Taliban now appear set on a complete military victory.
But claims by the hardline group that they control 85 per cent of the country are impossible to verify independently — and strongly disputed by the government.
The insurgents have tried to capture cities in the past but so far have failed to keep them.
They briefly held the northern city of Kunduz in 2015 and 2016 but were pushed out by government forces.
In 2018, insurgents seized Ghazni for a few days, torching its main bazaar and killing scores of civilians.
In the latest fighting, local officials said the Taliban had captured two districts in the largely Shia Hazara province of Bamiyan.
During their repressive rule two decades ago, the insurgents drew international outrage by blowing up giant centuries-old statues of Buddha in Bamiyan.
