AfghanistanPresident of Ashraf Ghani Urgent talks were held with local leaders and international partners on Saturday because Taliban The rebels approached Kabul and occupied a town south of the capital, which was one of the gateways to the city.
As the United States and other foreign troops supporting the government withdrew and militants occupied one town after another, the United States and Britain quickly dispatched troops to help evacuate their embassies.
As the resistance of the Afghan government forces collapsed, many Afghans fled to the capital due to the fighting, fearing to return to hardline Islamic rule.
“As your president, my focus is to prevent further instability, violence and displacement of my people,” Ghani said in a brief televised speech, adding that he is consulting the government, elders, politicians and international leaders .
He did not respond to any ceasefire and political settlement negotiation conditions that the Taliban asked him to resign, and stated that his top priority is still to consolidate the country’s security and defense capabilities.
“Serious measures are being taken in this regard,” he said, but did not elaborate.
Qatar has been presiding over yet unsuccessful peace negotiations between the Afghan government and the Taliban, and the country said it had urged the rebels to cease fire during a meeting with their representatives on Saturday.
According to a local provincial assembly member who asked not to be named, told Reuters that earlier, the Taliban encountered little resistance and occupied Pul-e-Alam, the capital of Logar Province, 70 kilometers (40 miles) south of Kabul.
However, police officials denied reports that the Taliban were advancing from Pul-e-Alam to Kabul, and Pul-e-Alam was a possible transit point for attacking the capital.
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The town was occupied a day after the rebels occupied the country’s second and third largest cities. The Taliban stated that it was about to capture Maidan Shahr, another town near Kabul.
An Afghan government official confirmed on Friday that Kandahar, the largest city in the south and the heart of the Taliban, is under the control of militants as the U.S.-led army completes its withdrawal after 20 years of war.
After the attack on the United States on September 11, 2001, a US-led invasion drove the Taliban from power.
Herat, near the Iranian border in the west, also fell into the hands of this group. The Taliban said on Saturday that it had occupied the capitals of Kunar, Paktika and Paktiya provinces on the eastern border of Afghanistan, but could not be immediately confirmed.
An American official, who asked not to be named, said that American troops have begun flying to Kabul to help evacuate embassy personnel and other civilians.
The Pentagon said that two battalions of Marines and an infantry battalion will arrive in Kabul on Sunday night with approximately 3,000 soldiers. If needed, an infantry brigade combat team will be transferred to Kuwait as a safe rapid reaction force in Kabul.
The Czech Republic said on Saturday that it is withdrawing two of its diplomats, and Germany said it will deploy troops to evacuate its diplomats as soon as possible.
Diplomats said that some embassies had already started to burn sensitive materials before they were evacuated. Residents say that many people in the capital are hoarding rice, other food and first aid supplies.
Officials say that there are tens of thousands of visa applications from embassies, and Washington requires countries to temporarily place Afghans working for the US government.
Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said on Friday before the fall of Pul-e-Alam that there were concerns that the Taliban might take action against Kabul within a few days.
The aid agency stated that the hospital is struggling to cope with the number of people injured in the fighting, and 17,000 people were treated in ICRC-supported facilities in the first week of July and August.
The outbreak of fighting has raised concerns about the refugee crisis and regression of human rights gains, especially for women. Canada said it will resettle more than 20,000 vulnerable Afghans, including female leaders, human rights workers and journalists, to protect them from retaliation by the Taliban.
In addition to Kabul, the government also controls Jalalabad in the east near the Pakistani border and Mazar-i-Sharif in the north, where social media reported on Saturday that fierce fighting had taken place.
The speed of the Taliban’s progress has led to accusations of U.S. withdrawal, which was negotiated last year under the leadership of President Joe Biden’s Republican predecessor Donald Trump’s administration.
Biden said this week that he does not regret his decision to continue withdrawing. He pointed out that Washington had spent more than $1 trillion in the past two decades and lost thousands of soldiers, and called on the Afghan army and leaders to step up their actions.
— The Kabul Bureau report was written by Raju Gopalakrishnan and Alasdair Pal and edited by William Mallard, Philippa Fletcher and Frances Kerry
