MOSCOW, July 8. /TASS/. The Taliban movement (outlawed in Russia) got almost the entire border between Afghanistan and Tajikistan under control, CSTO Joint Headquarters head Colonel General Anatoly Sidorov announced Thursday.

"One month ago, the Taliban started taking swathes of the border on the Afghanistan side. […] By early July, they have already taken 700 kilometers under control. By the time of our arrival to Tajikistan, almost the entire national border was under their control — a swath of 1344 kilometers of the border with the Republic of Tajikistan," he said.

On July 5, Tajik border control reported border crossing by 1,037 Afghan servicemen, who were forced to retreat during clashes with the Taliban. In the last two weeks, several such incidents happened. The Afghan servicemen were allowed to cross into Tajik territory out of the principle of good-neighborliness and non-interference in Afghan internal affairs, Tajik security authorities said.