KUNDUZ, Afghanistan: The Taliban captured Afghanistan’s main border crossing with Tajikistan Tuesday, officials said, with security forces abandoning their posts and some fleeing across the frontier.
The taking of the far north Shir Khan Bandar, about 50 kilometers (30 miles) from Kunduz city, is the most significant gain for the Taliban since the US began the final stage of its troop withdrawal in May, with peace talks between the insurgents and Kabul deadlocked.
“Unfortunately this morning, and after an hour of fighting, the Taliban captured Shir Khan port and the town and all the border check posts with Tajikistan,” Kunduz provincial council member Khaliddin Hakmi told AFP.
Separately, an army officer said: “We were forced to leave all check posts... and some of our soldiers crossed the border into Tajikistan.
“By the morning, they (Taliban fighters) were everywhere; hundreds of them,” he told AFP on condition of anonymity.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid confirmed the insurgents had seized the border post, on the south bank of the Pyanj River.
“Our Mujahideen are in full control of Shir Khan Bandar and all the border crossings with Tajikistan in Kunduz,” he told AFP.
Since early May, the Taliban have launched major offensives targeting government forces across the rugged countryside, and claim to have seized at least 87 of the country’s 421 districts.
Many of their claims are disputed by the government, and independent verification is difficult — especially in areas that frequently change hands.
Shir Khan Bandar is marked by a 700-meter US-funded bridge that opened to great fanfare in 2007 with the aim of boosting trade between the Central Asian neighbors.
It is a sprawling dry port capable of handling up to 1,000 vehicles a day.
“There were 150 trucks loaded with goods in Shir Khan Bandar when it fell and we don’t know what’s happened to them,” said Massoud Wahdat, a spokesman for the Kunduz provincial chamber of commerce and industries.
“It would be a huge financial loss.”
The capture of Shir Khan Bandar, a key trade route to Central Asia, was a “significant blow” to the government, said Afghan security analyst Atiqullah Amarkhail.
“The failure to effectively defend this important port may be indicative that the government is struggling to maintain the initiative on the battlegrounds,” he said.
Fierce fighting has raged across Kunduz province over the past few days, with the Taliban and Afghan forces engaged in battles Monday on the outskirts of Kunduz city itself.
The Taliban have briefly held the city twice before — in September 2015, and again a year later.
With a significant population of Pashtun, Kunduz had been a stronghold of the Taliban even before they seized power in the 1990s.
The city’s location makes it a key transit point for economic and trade exchanges with Tajikistan and beyond.
Analyst Amarkhail said recent losses, many without a fight, showed that there was “chaos and panic” among government forces.
But even when Afghan forces do take on the Taliban on the battleground they are suffering. Last week at least 20 members of the country’s top commando unit were killed in Dawlat Abad, also in the north.
The top UN official in Kabul warned the international community Tuesday about the Taliban’s gains in an address to the UN Security Council.
“Most districts that have been taken surround provincial capitals, suggesting that the Taliban are positioning themselves to try and take these capitals once foreign forces are fully withdrawn,” Deborah Lyons, head of United Nations Assistance Mission for Afghanistan, said.
Afghan government forces, however, said they would soon launch a massive offensive to retake lost territory.
“The central command is in full control and all security forces and the military resources have been mobilized against the enemy,” General Ajmal Shinwari, spokesman for the security forces, told reporters.
“You will soon witness our advances across the country.”
The Pentagon said on Monday that it will complete its full withdrawal by September 11, but the pace of the pullout could be slowed given the Taliban’s gains.
“We want to maintain the flexibility to do that,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said.
Taliban capture Afghanistan’s main Tajikistan border crossing
https://arab.news/58zxn
Taliban capture Afghanistan’s main Tajikistan border crossing
- The taking of Shir Khan Bandar is the most significant gain for the Taliban since the US began the final stage of its troop withdrawal in May
- The Pentagon said that it will complete its full withdrawal by Sept. 11, but the pace of the pullout could be slowed given the Taliban’s gains
Trump pivots to new 10 percent global tariff, new probes after Supreme Court setback
WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump moved swiftly on Friday to replace tariffs struck down by the Supreme Court with a temporary 10 percent global import duty for 150 days while opening investigations under other laws that could allow him to re-impose the tariffs.
Trump told a briefing he was ordering new tariffs under Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974, duties that would go on top of surviving tariffs. These would partly replace tariffs of 10 percent to 50 percent under the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act that the top court declared illegal.
Trump said later on Truth Social that he had signed an order for the tariffs on all countries “which will be effective almost immediately.”
A spokesperson for the US Customs and Border Protection agency declined comment when asked when collections of the illegal IEEPA tariffs would halt at ports of entry.
Trump’s Treasury Secretary, Scott Bessent, said the new 10 percent duties and potentially enhanced tariffs under the Section 301 unfair practices statute and the Section 232 national security statute would result in virtually unchanged tariff revenue in 2026.
“We will get back to the same tariff level for the countries. It will just be in a less direct and slightly more convoluted manner,” Bessent told Fox News, adding that the Supreme Court decision had reduced Trump’s negotiating leverage with trading partners.
The never-used Section 122 authority allows the president to impose duties of up to 15 percent for up to 150 days on any and all countries to address “large and serious” balance of payments issues. It does not require investigations or impose other procedural limits. After 150 days, Congress would need to approve their extension.
“We have alternatives, great alternatives,” Trump said. “Could be more money. We’ll take in more money and we’ll be a lot stronger for it,” Trump said of the alternative tools.
While the administration will likely face legal challenges, the Section 122 tariffs would lapse before any final ruling could be made, said Josh Lipsky, international economics chair at the Atlantic Council, a think tank in Washington.
Trump said his administration also was initiating several new country-specific investigations under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 “to protect our country from unfair trading practices of other countries and companies.”
Trump’s shift to other statutes, including Section 122, while initiating new investigations under Section 301 had been widely anticipated, but these have often taken a year to complete.
The 10 percent tariffs only last five months, but Trump said that would allow his administration to complete investigations to enhance tariffs.
Asked if rates would ultimately end up being higher after more probes, Trump said: “Potentially higher. It depends. Whatever we want them to be.”
He said some countries “that have treated us really badly for years” could see higher tariffs, whereas for others, “it’s going to be very reasonable for them.”
The fate of dozens of trade deals to cut IEEPA-based duties and negotiations with major US trading partners remained unclear in the wake of the ruling, though Trump said he expected many of them to continue. He said deals that are abandoned “will be replaced with the other tariffs.”
“This is unlikely to affect reciprocal trade negotiations with our trading partners,” said Tim Brightbill, trade partner with the law firm Wiley Rein in Washington. “Most countries would prefer the certainty of a trade deal to the chaos of last year.”
US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said details on new Section 301 investigations would be revealed in coming days, adding these are “incredibly legally durable.” Trump relied on Section 301 to impose broad tariffs on Chinese imports during his first term.
The Supreme Court’s ruling puts about $175 billion in tariff revenue collected over the past year subject to potential refunds, according to estimates provided to Reuters by Penn-Wharton Budget Model economists.
Asked if he would refund the IEEPA duties, Trump said, “I guess it has to get litigated for the next two years,” a response indicating that a quick, automatic refund process was unlikely.
Speaking in Dallas, Bessent told business leaders that since the Supreme Court did not provide any instructions on refunds, those were “in dispute,” adding: “My sense is that could be dragged out for weeks, months, years.”
Part of the reason why Trump opted for IEEPA to impose tariffs last year was because the 1977 sanctions statute allowed fast and broad action with almost no constraints. Until Friday, he had also used it as a cudgel to swiftly punish countries over non-trade disputes, such as Brazil’s prosecution of former president and Trump ally Jair Bolsonaro.
While Trump’s new investigations will prolong tariff uncertainty, they could inject more order into his tariff policy by forcing him to rely on trade laws that have well-understood procedures, research and public comment requirements, and longer timelines, said Janet Whittaker, senior counsel with Clifford Chance in Washington.
“The administration will need to follow these set processes, conduct the investigations, and so for businesses, that means more visibility into the process,” Whittaker said.
Robert Lighthizer, Trump’s trade chief during his first term, said on Fox News that he hoped Congress would revise decades-old trade laws to give Trump new tariff tools.
“I think there’s consensus in this Congress that we have to change the old system, and I hope that they will take this as an opportunity to do that,” Lighthizer said.
