Afghan forces plan counteroffensive in northern provinces: Adviser

Government forces plan a counteroffensive in Afghanistan's northern provinces after losing ground to the Taliban, Russia's RIA news agency quoted an adviser to Afghan President Ashraf Ghani as saying on Monday.

National security adviser Hamdullah Mohib, who was in Moscow on Monday for talks with senior security officials, told RIA in an interview that government forces had not expected the Taliban offensive but would 'absolutely, definitely' counterattack.

Russia operates a military base in Tajikistan, a former Soviet republic bordering Afghanistan.

Russia's foreign ministry said separately on Monday that the Russian consulate in the city of Mazar-i-Sharif in northern Afghanistan was suspending its work because of security concerns, TASS news agency reported.

Earlier, the Taliban's march through northern Afghanistan gained momentum overnight with the capture of several districts from fleeing Afghan forces, several hundred of whom fled across the border into Tajikistan, officials said Sunday.

More than 300 Afghan military personnel crossed from Afghanistan's Badakhshan province as Taliban fighters advanced toward the border, Tajikistan's State Committee for National Security said in a statement.

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The Afghan troops crossed over at about 6:30 pm local time on Saturday 'Guided by the principles of humanism and good neighbourliness,' the Tajik authorities allowed the retreating Afghan National Defence and Security Forces to cross into Tajikistan, said the statement.

Since mid-April, when US President Joe Biden announced the end to Afghanistan's 'forever war,'the Taliban have made strides throughout the country. But their most significant gains have been in the northern half of the country, a traditional stronghold of the US-allied warlords, who helped defeat them in 2001.

The Taliban now control roughly a third of all 421 districts and district centres in Afghanistan.

(With inputs from agencies)