The United States and the United Kingdom ordered the deployment of thousands of soldiers to Afghanistan on Friday (August 13) to evacuate their citizens because the Taliban’s offensive occupied more major regional cities and put the capital at risk.
When Western troops announced an emergency withdrawal, the Taliban claimed that they had taken control of Kandahar, the country’s second largest city, in the heart of the Taliban, leaving only Kabul and other territories in the hands of the government.
“Kandahar is completely conquered. The Mujahideen arrived at Martyrs Square,” a Taliban spokesperson tweeted on an officially approved account, referring to a city landmark.
This statement was supported by a resident who told AFP that government troops appeared to have collectively retreated to a military facility outside the southern city.
After the Taliban’s eight-day blitzkrieg against the city center, the Afghan government and its American supporters were dumbfounded, and the government has now effectively lost control of most of the country.
The offensive was launched after the United States and its allies almost withdrew from Afghanistan. President Joe Biden decided to end the two-decade war before September 11.
No regrets
Biden insists that he does not regret his decision, but the speed and ease of the Taliban’s victory in the city in recent days has been surprising and forced him to make new calculations.
Washington and London announced actions Thursday night to quickly withdraw embassy staff and other citizens from the capital.
“In view of the changing security situation, we are further reducing our civilian footprint in Kabul,” US State Department spokesperson Ned Price told reporters, while noting that the embassy will remain open.
“This is not giving up. This is not an evacuation. This is not a large-scale withdrawal.”
The Pentagon stated that it will deploy 3,000 US troops to Kabul in the next 24 to 48 hours, stressing that they will not be used to launch attacks on the Taliban.
British Defense Minister Ben Wallace said that London will send 600 of its own troops to evacuate its nationals and former Afghan staff.
Price said the United States will also begin to dispatch daily flights to evacuate Afghan interpreters and other people assisting the Americans.
‘Let down their arms’
Since the final phase of the withdrawal of the US-led troops in May, the conflict has escalated sharply.
After several months of occupying rural areas considered strategically less important, the Taliban focused their attention on the cities.
In the past week, insurgents have occupied more than a dozen provincial capitals and surrounded the largest city in the north, the traditional anti-Taliban fortress Mazar-e-Sharif, which is now one of the few diehards.
Pro-Taliban social media accounts boast that their fighters have recovered a large amount of loot in recent days.
They posted photos of armored vehicles, heavy weapons and even a drone captured by the insurgents at an abandoned military base.
After being under siege for several weeks, government forces evacuated the ancient Silk Road city of Herat near the Iranian border on Thursday and retreated to a regional military camp.
Herat resident Masoom Jan told AFP that the fall of the city was sudden. He said that the Taliban “entered the city in a hurry. They raised flags in every corner.”
On Thursday, the Ministry of the Interior also confirmed the fall of Ghazni, about 150 kilometers (95 miles) from Kabul, along the main road leading to Kandahar and the southern Taliban center.
A security source told AFP that Qala-i-Naw, the capital of Badghis province in the northwest, also surrendered on Thursday.
“A foreseeable disaster”
With the collapse of the rout, a three-day meeting between major Afghan international players ended in Qatar, and no major progress was made on Thursday.
In a joint statement, the international community, including the United States, Pakistan, the European Union and China, stated that they would not recognize “any government imposed on Afghanistan through the use of force.”
Price called for a negotiated solution to the problem and reiterated Biden’s frustration with the deteriorating situation, saying that after the United States has provided billions of dollars in support for more than two decades, the number of Afghan government forces exceeds the Taliban’s three to one. .
Faced with domestic pressure, Biden was criticized by the top Republican in Congress on Thursday for his “reckless policy.”
Senator Mitch McConnell said in a statement: “Afghanistan is heading towards a large-scale, predictable and preventable disaster.”
