DThe noose surrounding Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, is tightening day by day.On Thursday they have Taliban The city of Ghazni was first conquered, thereby cutting off the government’s ties with southern Kabul. On Friday night, they announced their most important military victory so far in the war with President Ashraf Ghani’s government: Kandahar and Herat, the country’s largest cities after the conquering of Kabul. Together with Kandahar, they control southern Afghanistan, and with Herat control the western border with Iran.
The Taliban also hoisted Islamic creed flags with white backgrounds in other smaller provincial towns (such as Firuzkoh and Lashkargah). In major cities outside Kabul, the central government only controls Jalabad in the east and Mazar-i-Sharif in the north.On Wednesday, the president still has Gani Visited Mazar-e-Sharif with the purpose of coordinating resistance to Taliban attacks. If this city collapses, the Afghan country in the north will collapse. Even the attacks of American B52 bombers, F15 fighter jets and drones did not stop the Taliban.
Displacement wave
Even if the talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban in Doha, accompanied by representatives of countries in West and Central Asia, formally continue, the Taliban will obviously not allow themselves to be dissuaded from their plans to put the country into trouble. They controlled by force. The Afghan people’s call to participate in the elections did not impress them.
The Taliban’s offensive has triggered a huge wave of displacement. An independent Afghan human rights organization estimates that 1 million Afghans have become internally displaced in the past few months. Fearing terrorist activities by the Taliban, including stoning and amputation, as well as depriving women of their rights, many people initially sought protection in Kabul. It is believed that there are also a large number of deserters among the refugees because there are reports that the Taliban are executing soldiers who surrendered.
Thousands of Afghans arrived from Ghazni. In Kabul, they spent the night in parks, mosques and public buildings. The government is currently building a tent camp that can accommodate 10,000 people. The Taliban control part of the border with Pakistan, and it is difficult to escape to neighboring countries in the east. With the conquest of Herat, they can speed up or stop the flow of refugees to Iran.
The conquest of the provincial capital, Ghazni, was a success for the Taliban, because it was the first time they had cut off the ring road connecting major cities. The Kabul government can no longer reach the southern provinces of Kandahar, Helmand and Farah by land. The governor of Ghazni retired without a fight, and left the city and handed it over to the Taliban, who then escorted him out of the city. The Ministry of the Interior said that they have arrested the governor for the act.
Symbolic and material meaning
The Taliban’s first major victory was when they captured the city of Kandahar after three weeks of siege. You took over as governor, and the civilian representatives of the state and government forces have been withdrawn. Kandahar has important symbolic and material significance to the Taliban. Because the city and province of the same name are the birthplace of the movement, and drug cultivation is its most important source of income. Kandahar is also the center of the Pashtun, the largest ethnic group in Afghanistan. Even after the international military alliance ended Taliban rule in 2001, the city and the province never stopped. The Taliban have repeatedly tried to regain control of Kandahar. None of NATO’s major actions have permanently weakened the Taliban.
