Taliban say they do not seek to seize power in Afghanistan militarily

There has been a rapid deterioration in security as US withdraws its forces after 20 years

MOSCOW:

The Taliban's political office said on Thursday that the group did not seek to seize power in Afghanistan militarily, Russia's TASS news agency reported.

There has been a rapid deterioration in security in Afghanistan as the Taliban have made gains while the United States withdraws its forces after 20 years.

The group’s political office also said that the insurgent group would not attack the Afghan-Tajik border.

A delegation of the Afghan Taliban's political office was in Moscow on Thursday, Russia's Interfax news agency cited a source as saying. The report gave no further details.

Afghan government forces on Thursday wrested back control of a western provincial capital stormed by the Taliban a day earlier and hundreds of fresh troops have been deployed to the region, the defence ministry said.

It said some fighting was continuing on the fringes of Qala-e-Naw, capital of Badghis province, which borders the central Asian country of Turkmenistan.

Insurgents had on Wednesday seized key government buildings in the city including police headquarters as part of a dramatic Taliban advance unfolding as foreign forces withdraw from Afghanistan after a 20-year-long intervention.