KABUL, Afghanistan — Afghan authorities prepared Saturday to try to retake a key border crossing seized by the Taliban in a sweeping offensive that the insurgents claim has helped capture a vast swath of the violence-wracked nation.
As US troops continued their withdrawal, the Taliban said its fighters had seized two crossings in western Afghanistan — completing an arc of territory from the Iranian border to the frontier with China.
It now held 85 percent of the country, a Taliban official said Friday, controlling about 250 of Afghanistan’s nearly 400 districts — a claim impossible to independently verify, and disputed by the government.
Beijing, meanwhile, which has crit…
Keep on reading: Afghanistan to rush troops to border as Taliban extend gains