Afghan officials prepared to try to recapture a major border crossing captured by the Taliban in a sweeping operation that the militants say helped them control a large section of the war-torn country on Saturday.

As US soldiers continue to depart, the Taliban said that its fighters had taken control of two crossings in western Afghanistan, completing an arc of territory stretching from the Iranian border to the Chinese border.

Also Read | Taliban claim to control 85% of Afghanistan’s territory

According to a Taliban spokesman, the group currently controls 85 percent of Afghanistan, managing approximately 250 of the country’s nearly 400 districts — a figure that cannot be independently verified and is denied by the government.

Meanwhile, after evacuating 210 citizens, Beijing, which has chastised Washington for its quick withdrawal, has advised its citizens to leave the country “as soon as possible.”

The “complex and severe domestic security situation” prompted the evacuation warning, the foreign ministry said.

On Friday Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told AFP their fighters had captured the town of Islam Qala on the Iranian frontier and the Torghundi crossing with Turkmenistan.

A spokesman for the governor of Herat province said Saturday the authorities were deploying fresh troops to retake the Islam Qala post, the biggest trade crossing between Iran and Afghanistan.

“They will be sent there soon,” he told AFP.

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The Afghan government has dismissed the Taliban’s victories as having little strategic importance, but the seizing of numerous border crossings and the taxes they produce will almost certainly add to the Taliban’s finances.

With the Taliban routing most of northern Afghanistan in recent weeks, the government now controls nothing more than a smattering of provincial capitals that rely heavily on air support and resupply.

Even before the Taliban’s rapid attack overwhelmed the government’s northern and western defences, the air force was under great strain, placing even more burden on the country’s scarce aircraft and pilots.

President Joe Biden said on Thursday that the US military operation in Afghanistan will finish on August 31, nearly 20 years after it began, but that it was “highly unlikely” that Kabul would be able to govern the entire nation.

“The status quo is not an option,” Biden said of staying in the country. “I will not send another generation of Americans to war in Afghanistan.”

Biden said the Afghan people alone should determine their future, but he acknowledged the uncertainty about what that would look like. Asked if a Taliban takeover was inevitable, the president said: “No, it is not.”

Also Read | Joe Biden says Kabul’s fall to Taliban ‘not inevitable’

Afghan commandos clashed with the insurgents this week in a provincial capital for the first time, with thousands of people fleeing Qala-i-Naw, Badghis province.

On Friday the Afghan defence ministry said government forces had “full control” of the city, but a local official said on Saturday the insurgents had attacked again during the night.

The Taliban have been emboldened by the US troop withdrawal and — with peace talks in Doha deadlocked — appear to be pressing for a full military victory.