The group stated that it has occupied the Spin Boldak strategic border crossing with Pakistan and continues to make great progress.

The Taliban stated that it has occupied the Spinboldak strategic border crossing with Pakistan and continues to make great achievements since the intensified withdrawal of foreign troops from Afghanistan.

However, the Afghan Ministry of Interior insisted on Wednesday that the attacks by armed groups had been repelled and government forces had control.

However, the Pakistani authorities confirmed to Al Jazeera that they had blocked one side of the country’s border crossing with Afghanistan at the Chaman-Spinboldak border.

“You can see the presence of the Taliban on the border of Afghanistan and Pakistan in Chaman, but there are no Afghans. [government] The troops are on the side of the Afghan border,” local government official Arif Kakar told Al Jazeera.

People crossing the Pakistan-Afghan border in Chaman, Pakistan [File: Akhter Gulfam/EPA]

Kakar confirmed that Pakistan currently does not allow any goods or people to cross the Chaman-Spinboldak border, which is one of the two main border crossing points between South Asian countries.

A video taken by local witnesses and seen by Al Jazeera shows that the flag of the Afghan government on the Spinboldak side of the border crossing has been replaced by the white flag of the Taliban, which refers to Afghanistan as the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan.

Social media is also flooded with photos of Taliban fighters looking relaxed in this seemingly border town.

The seizure of Spin Boldak will be the latest in a series of border crossings and dry ports seized by the Taliban in recent weeks. The organization hopes to obtain much-needed revenue from the Kabul government while filling its own coffers.

After several days of fierce fighting in Kandahar province, the government was forced to deploy commandos to prevent the fall of the provincial capital, even as the organization was getting closer to the border crossing.

In a statement, Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid assured businessmen and residents there that their “safety is guaranteed”.

But Afghan officials insist that they still have control.

“The terrorist Taliban had some activities near the border area… The security forces repelled the attack,” Tarek Arian, spokesman for the Ministry of the Interior, told AFP.

Residents raised objections to the government’s statement.

“I went to my shop this morning and saw Taliban everywhere. They are in the bazaar, the police headquarters and the customs area. I can still hear the sound of fighting nearby,” said Raz Mohamed, a shopkeeper who works near the border. Mohammad) said.

Trucks destined for Afghanistan wait for customs clearance on the Pakistani side of the Pakistan-Afghanistan border in Chaman, Pakistan [File: Akhter Gulfam/EPA]

Since the United States is only a few weeks away from the final withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan, the organization has already swept most of the country, and the government now only has a cluster of provincial capitals that must be resupplied primarily through the air.

The Spin Boldak border crossing is one of the most strategically valuable border crossings for the Taliban. It provides direct access to Pakistan’s Balochistan province, where the organization’s top leadership has been stationed for decades, and an unknown number of reserve fighters who regularly enter Afghanistan to help strengthen their ranks.

A few hours after the border crossing collapsed, an AFP reporter from Pakistan saw about 150 Taliban fighters riding motorcycles and waving flags, demanding that they be allowed to enter Afghanistan.

Balochistan is the preferred destination for fighters who often go to medical treatment and has hosted many of their families.

An important road from the border connects Karachi, the commercial capital of Pakistan, and its huge port in the Arabian Sea.

Additional report by Saadullah Akhtar in Quetta, Pakistan