MOSCOW, August 18. /TASS/. Ashgabat maintains contacts on a regular basis with representatives of the Taliban (outlawed in Russia) on the issues of protection of the state border between Turkmenistan and Afghanistan, as well as on the movement of cargo, the Foreign Ministry of Turkmenistan reported on its website on Wednesday.
"The Foreign Ministry of Turkmenistan reports that employees of the diplomatic service and other state agencies of the country maintain regular contacts with representatives of the Taliban movement on the issues of state border protection, customs, sanitary, phyto-sanitary and other types of control and surveillance, exercised during the movement of cargo across the border," the report said.
The Foreign Ministry said that the border checkpoints Ymam Nazar-Aqina and Serhetabad-Turghundi were operating in the usual manner, "ensuring in the established procedure the passage of the necessary amount of auto trailers and railway cars".
The length of the border shared by Turkmenistan and Afghanistan is about 800 kilometers.
On April 14, US President Joe Biden announced plans to end Washington’s operation in Afghanistan, the longest military campaign in American history. On August 15, Taliban fighters entered Afghanistan’s capital of Kabul and took control of the entire city within a few hours. Later, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani announced he was stepping down and then fled the country. At present, Western nations are evacuating their citizens and embassy staff.