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  • Who are the Taliban, and what do they need?

    In the winter of 1995, a New York Times correspondent visiting Afghanistan reported that after years of brutal civil strife, an enormous change appeared to be afoot.
    A “new force of professed Islamic purists and Afghan patriots” had rapidly taken navy management of greater than 40% of the nation.

    It was stunning, as a result of till taking on arms only a yr earlier than, lots of the fighters had been little greater than spiritual pupils.
    Their very title meant “students.” The Taliban, they referred to as themselves.
    1 / 4-century later, after outlasting a world navy coalition in a battle that value tens of hundreds of lives, the onetime college students at the moment are rulers of the land. Again.

    Here is a take a look at the origin of the Taliban; how they managed to take over Afghanistan not as soon as, however twice; what they did after they first took management — and what which may reveal about their plans for this time.
    A white Taliban flag flies above a billboard promoting Coca-Cola in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Sunday, Aug. 15, 2021. (Jim Huylebroek/The New York Times)
    When did the Taliban first emerge?
    The Taliban arose in 1994 amid the turmoil that adopted the withdrawal of Soviet forces from Afghanistan in 1989. The group was rooted in rural areas of Kandahar province, within the nation’s ethnic-Pashtun heartland within the south.

    The Soviet Union had invaded in 1979 to prop up the Communist authorities in Afghanistan, and ultimately met the destiny of huge powers previous and current which have tried to impose their will on the nation: It was pushed out.
    The Soviets had been defeated by Islamic fighters generally known as the mujahedeen, a patchwork of rebel factions supported by a U.S. authorities solely too completely satisfied to wage a proxy battle in opposition to its Cold War rival.
    U.S. troopers in jap Afghanistan, April 13, 2010. (Christoph Bangert/The New York Times) — NO SALES
    But the enjoyment over that victory was short-lived, as the varied factions fell out and started combating for management. The nation fell into warlordism, and a brutal civil battle.
    Against this backdrop, the Taliban, with their promise to place Islamic values first and to battle the corruption that drove the warlords’ combating, rapidly attracted a following. Over months of intense combating, they took over a lot of the nation.

    How did the Taliban rule?
    In 1996, the Taliban declared an Islamic Emirate, imposing a harsh interpretation of the Quran and implementing it with brutal public punishments, together with floggings, amputations and mass executions. And they strictly curtailed the function of ladies, preserving them out of colleges.
    They additionally made clear that rival spiritual practices wouldn’t be tolerated: In early 2001, the Taliban destroyed towering statues generally known as the Great Buddhas of Bamiyan, objects of awe across the globe. The Taliban thought-about them blasphemous, and boasted that their destruction was holy. “It is easier to destroy than to build,” noticed the militants’ minister of knowledge and tradition.
    There was a framework of a contemporary authorities, together with ministries and a forms. But on the avenue stage, it was spiritual edict, and the whim of particular person commanders, that dictated on a regular basis life for Afghans.
    They didn’t management the complete nation, nevertheless. The north, the place lots of the mujahedeen commanders had taken up occupancy, remained a bastion of resistance.
    What does Taliban rule imply for ladies?
    The Taliban had been based in an ideology dictating that ladies ought to play solely essentially the most circumscribed roles in society.
    The final time they dominated, they barred ladies and ladies from taking most jobs and even going to high school. And ladies caught exterior the house with their faces uncovered risked extreme punishment. Unmarried men and women seen collectively additionally confronted punishment.
    Women arrive at Herat University, in Herat, Afghanistan, Sept. 26, 2020. (Jim Huylebroek/The New York Times)
    After the Taliban authorities was toppled by an American-led coalition, ladies made many features in Afghanistan. But 20 years later, because the U.S. negotiated a troop withdrawal settlement with the Taliban, many Afghan ladies feared that each one of that floor could be misplaced.
    And because the militants take energy, there have been ample indicators that these fears are well-grounded.
    In only one instance, Taliban fighters entered a financial institution in Kandahar throughout combating in July and ordered 9 ladies working there to depart and mentioned that male kinfolk ought to take their place, Reuters reported. And within the northern metropolis of Kunduz this month, the town’s new Taliban rulers ordered ladies who had labored for the federal government to depart their jobs and by no means return.
    “It’s really strange to not be allowed to get to work, but now this is what it is,” one of many financial institution staff in Kandahar mentioned.
    Why did the U.S. invade Afghanistan?
    When they had been in energy, the Taliban made Afghanistan a protected harbor for Osama bin Laden, a Saudi Arabia-born former mujahedeen fighter, whereas he constructed up a terrorist group with world designs: al-Qaida.
    On Sept. 11, 2001, the group struck a blow that rattled the world, toppling the World Trade Center towers in New York and damaging the Pentagon in Washington. Thousands had been killed.
    President George W. Bush demanded that the Taliban hand over al-Qaida and bin Laden. When the Taliban balked, the United States invaded. Unleashing a heavy airstrike marketing campaign, and joined by former mujahedeen teams throughout the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance coalition, the U.S. and its allies quickly toppled the Taliban authorities. Most of the al-Qaida and Taliban officers who survived fled to Pakistan.
    Twenty years later, a few of those self same Taliban officers had been among the many delegation that struck a deal for the United States to depart Afghanistan, and they’ll quantity among the many nation’s new rulers.
    What occurred to the Taliban after their 2001 defeat?
    With the shelter and help of Pakistan’s navy — the identical pressure receiving heavy monetary assist from the United States to assist search out al-Qaida — the Taliban reformed as a guerrilla insurgency.
    The U.S. started pouring sources into a brand new battle in Iraq, and American officers advised the world that Afghanistan was effectively on its approach to changing into a Western-style democracy with fashionable establishments. But many Afghans had been coming to really feel that these overseas establishments had been simply one other means for corrupt leaders to steal cash.
    In the countryside, the Taliban started gaining floor, and assist, notably in rural areas. Their numbers grew — some fighters had been intimidated into becoming a member of, others completely satisfied to volunteer, virtually all of them higher paid than native policemen. And the group discovered a wealthy recruiting vein among the many Afghan diaspora in Pakistan, from households who had fled earlier violence as refugees and had been introduced up in spiritual colleges.

    “Six years after being driven from power, the Taliban are demonstrating a resilience and a ferocity that are raising alarm,” The Times reported in 2008, noting that “a relatively ragtag insurgency has managed to keep the world’s most powerful armies at bay.”
    The Taliban weathered the storm when President Barack Obama vastly expanded the U.S. navy presence in Afghanistan, as much as round 100,000 troops in 2010. And when the Americans started drawing down a couple of years later, the insurgents started gaining floor once more. It was a marketing campaign of persistence, with the Taliban betting that the United States would lose endurance and go away.
    They had been proper. More than 2,400 American lives later, $2 trillion later, tens of hundreds of Afghan civilian and safety forces deaths later, President Donald Trump made a cope with the Taliban and declared that American forces would go away Afghanistan by mid-2021. President Joe Biden endorsed the method, and presided over an uncompromising troop withdrawal even because the Taliban started gobbling up complete districts, after which cities.
    This week, simply 9 days after the Taliban seized their first provincial capital, the insurgents walked into the capital, Kabul. Taliban rule of Afghanistan has resumed.

    What will the Taliban do subsequent?
    Taliban leaders have up to now appeared to keep away from inflammatory rhetoric, and have referred to as on commanders to rule pretty and keep away from reprisals and abuse. They have issued assurances that folks will likely be protected.
    The early days of Taliban management have, in actual fact, appeared restrained in some locations. But sufficient stories of brutality and intimidation have surfaced to ship waves of refugees to Kabul forward of the group’s advance. And now, the capital’s airport has turn out to be a scene of desperation and chaos, as hundreds of Afghans attempt to flee the nation at any value.
    In Kunduz, the primary main provincial capital to fall to the Taliban, residents had been unconvinced by guarantees of peace from their new rulers.
    “I am afraid, because I do not know what will happen and what they will do,” one resident mentioned. “We have to smile at them, because we are scared, but deeply we are unhappy.”

  • Taliban destroy statue of Shiite foe Abdul Ali Mazari from Nineties civil conflict

    The Taliban have blown up the statue of a Shiite militia chief who had fought in opposition to them throughout Afghanistan’s civil conflict within the Nineties, in response to images circulating on social media Wednesday.
    The statue depicted Abdul Ali Mazari, a militia chief killed by the Taliban in 1996, when the Islamic militants seized energy from rival warlords. Mazari was a champion of Afghanistan’s ethnic Hazara minority, Shiites who had been persecuted beneath the Sunni Taliban’s earlier rule.

    The statue stood within the central Bamyan province, the place the Taliban infamously blew up two large 1,500-year-old statues of Buddha carved right into a mountain in 2001, shortly earlier than the US-led invasion that drove them from energy. The Taliban claimed the Buddhas violated Islam’s prohibition on idolatry.
    The Taliban returned to energy final weekend after capturing a lot of the nation in a matter of days, lower than three weeks earlier than the US plans to finish its troop withdrawal.
    The Taliban have promised a brand new period of peace and safety, saying they may forgive those that fought in opposition to them and grant ladies full rights beneath Islamic legislation, with out elaborating. But many Afghans are deeply skeptical of the group, particularly those that bear in mind its earlier rule, when it imposed a harsh interpretation of Islamic legislation.
    Taliban fighters patrol in Wazir Akbar Khan neighborhood within the metropolis of Kabul, Afghanistan, Wednesday, Aug. 18, 2021. (AP)
    At that point, ladies had been largely confined to their houses, tv and music had been banned, and suspected criminals had been flogged, maimed or executed in public.
    The group additionally hosted Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida within the years earlier than the September 11, 2001 assaults. The US-led invasion drove them from energy and scattered al-Qaida, however the Taliban then launched a potent insurgency in opposition to the US and the Western-backed authorities.
    The Taliban now say they may forestall Afghanistan from once more getting used as a base for assaults, one thing that was enshrined in a 2020 peace cope with the Trump administration that paved the way in which for the American withdrawal.
    Thousands of Afghans have tried to flee the nation in current days because the US and its allies have struggled to handle a chaotic withdrawal from the nation. The Taliban took over the civilian facet of the Kabul worldwide airport on Tuesday and have used pressure to attempt to management the crowds.
    People exterior the worldwide airport in Kabul, Afghanistan. (Jim Huylebroek/The New York Times)
    Hundreds of individuals had been exterior the airport early Wednesday. The Taliban demanded to see paperwork earlier than permitting the uncommon passenger inside. Many of the individuals exterior didn’t seem to have passports, and every time the gate opened even an inch dozens tried to push by means of. The Taliban fired occasional warning photographs to disperse them.
    The US Embassy has in the meantime relocated to the navy facet of the airport, the place it’s coordinating the air carry of diplomats, foreigners and Afghans who labored with the Americans and now concern reprisal.
    The British authorities mentioned it would welcome as much as 5,000 Afghan refugees this 12 months, and a complete of 20,000 Afghans might be provided a option to settle within the UK within the coming years.
    “We owe a debt of gratitude to all those who have worked with us to make Afghanistan a better place over the last 20 years,” Prime Minister Boris Johnson mentioned late Tuesday.
    The head of Afghanistan’s Central Bank in the meantime mentioned the nation’s provide of bodily US {dollars} is “close to zero.” Afghanistan has some $9 billion in reserves, Ajmal Ahmady tweeted, however most is held exterior the nation, with some $7 billion held in US Federal Reserve bonds, property and gold.
    Ahmady mentioned the nation didn’t obtain a deliberate money cargo amid the Taliban offensive.

  • Strict costume code, denial of training and extra: Life of ladies beneath earlier Taliban rule

    “The Islamic Emirate doesn’t want women to be victims,” have been the phrases of Enamullah Samangani, a member of the Taliban’s cultural fee, Tuesday. Later, in its first presser after getting into Kabul in Afghanistan, Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid mentioned “We are going to allow women to work and study. We have got frameworks, of course. Women are going to be very active in the society but within the framework of Islam.”
    But inside hours of such sketchy assurances, social media platforms have been abuzz with movies displaying totally different girls teams holding placards and protesting the Taliban rule. In sheer present of braveness, the clips present girls shouting slogans and demanding equal rights whereas being surrounded by armed Taliban fighters.
    The protests, albeit small in quantity until now, should not uncalled for, on condition that the sooner Taliban rule between 1996 and 2001 was ridden with oppressions on girls within the backdrop of a staunch patriarchal set-up. Through a skewed interpretation of the Sharia, Islamic legislation, Taliban selected to restrict girls’s actions, proper to training and healthcare and went as much as the extent of public executions in circumstances of deviations from the set guidelines.
    In this Aug. 10, 2021 file photograph, an internally displaced girl from northern provinces, who fled her residence on account of preventing between the Taliban and Afghan safety personnel, has her blood stress taken after taking refuge in a public park in Kabul, Afghanistan. Many girls in Afghanistan stay at residence as a result of they’re too terrified to enterprise into a brand new world dominated by the Taliban. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul, File)

    Here’s a glance again at how girls have been handled by the Taliban throughout their five-year stint in Afghanistan.
    Restricted entry to healthcare
    Under a strict prohibition of male-female contact, the Taliban rule mandated segregation of sufferers and employees of the 2 sexes into totally different hospitals. A journal of American University Washington College of Law written by Stephanie Dubitsky in 1999 mentions how the healthcare disaster was affecting the ladies of Afghanistan.
    Dubitsky wrote, “The single medical facility where women were permitted contained only 35 patient beds. Clean water, electricity, oxygen and surgical and diagnostic equipment were not available…Male doctors are severely limited in their ability to diagnose and treat female patients effectively because prohibitions on male-female contact prevent male doctors from lifting women’s burqas, touching women except through their clothing, or looking at women’s bodies. Because of these same restrictions, male dentists have suffered severe punishment, including beatings and imprisonments, for treating female patient’s teeth and mouths.”
    Denial of training to girls
    Although the Taliban now declare that they don’t seem to be against training for girls, in a 2002 ILSA Journal of International & Comparative Law, a report titled ‘The Invisible Women: The Taliban’s Oppression Of Women In Afghanistan’, the worldwide affiliation of legislation college students acknowledged, “Most educational opportunities offered to women and girls abruptly ended when the Taliban took control of Kabul in 1996.”

    The report additional added, “There are a few home based schools and schools in the rural areas of the country that operate secretly, offering limited educational opportunities to girls; however, they live under constant fear of severe punishment for disobedience of the Taliban’s law prohibiting educational facilities for females. It is reported that one teacher, who denounced the laws of the Taliban and insisted that she would continue to teach, was struck with a rifle butt, and then killed after being shot in the head and stomach. Her death was witnessed by her students, her husband, and her daughter.”
    Internally displaced Afghan girls from northern provinces, who fled their residence on account of preventing between the Taliban and Afghan safety personnel, obtain medical care in a public park in Kabul, Afghanistan, Tuesday, Aug. 10, 2021. The extremist group that after stoned girls and restricted their each transfer is now again in energy. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)
    Restriction on motion
    Under the Taliban rule, girls needed to at all times be accompanied by male chaperone and have been solely allowed to board taxis with them. Any violation of this rule would end in beatings.
    The ILSA journal famous, “This rule also presents another obstacle for women because… a substantial number of Afghan families are headed by widows, because the male members of the family have been killed fighting in Afghanistan’s many civil conflicts. Enforcement of this harsh and irrational rule results in women being forced to become even more isolated.”
    Dress code
    Although Taliban spokesperson Suhail Shaheen Tuesday mentioned burqas should not obligatory and clarified solely hijabs are, the worry amongst girls of Afghanistan is palpable as reminiscences of public beatings and executions are nonetheless recent of their minds.
    During its earlier rule, the Taliban rule had a costume code for girls. The rule prohibited girls on the streets with out burqas and if caught with out one, they’d be subjected to beatings on the streets.
    Other oppressive guidelines
    The ILSA journal notes an incident and says, “…a woman reportedly received a severe beating because she purchased ice cream from a street vendor and was eating it in public. The ice cream vendor was also beaten and jailed for selling the ice cream to an unchaperoned woman.”

    It additional famous, “A woman will also run the risk of receiving a beating if any part of her limbs is exposed underneath her burqa, for making noise, for being found on the streets without a male family member escorting her, or for simply being found on the street with an excuse that is unacceptable to the Taliban.”
    What worldwide human rights watchdogs famous
    In 2020 and 2021, when the scenario in Afghanistan began altering publish USA’s announcement to tug again its troops in a phased method, worldwide human rights watchdogs have been intently monitoring the scenario and apprehensions on how girls can be affected beneath the Taliban have been cited in a number of experiences.
    In June 2020, Human Rights Watch in a report titled “You Have No Right to Complain” famous, “While in power in Afghanistan in the 1990s, the Taliban’s rights record was characterized by systematic violations against women and girls; cruel corporal punishments, including executions; and extreme suppression of freedom of religion, expression, and education.”
    This yr, Amnesty International in a public assertion titled ‘Afghan women’s rights on the verge of roll again as worldwide forces withdraw and peace talks in stalemate’ mentioned, “The Taliban has historically enforced harsh, discriminatory policies against women with the result of women being excluded from public life. When the Taliban were ruling the country from 1996 to 2001, women were denied their rights to education and accessing healthcare, and their right to freedom of movement was severely restricted, they could not appear in public without a close male relative, and were subject to harsh, disproportionate punishments even for minor “offenses”. Any deviation from the group`s set guidelines could possibly be punished by way of public corporal punishment, and even loss of life penalty or public execution.”

  • Afghans residing in India apprehensive in regards to the security of their family members, mentioned on the declare of giving safety to the individuals – Taliban had stabbed them with a promise earlier additionally

    Virendra Sharma, Noida: The Taliban have cleared the way in which for his or her energy by capturing Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan. After which there’s an environment of chaos in Kabul. At the airport, there was a stampede amongst individuals to depart the nation to avoid wasting their lives. At the identical time, Afghans residing in India are apprehensive about their family members. Sanger Niazi, an Afghan citizen residing in Noida, is considered one of them. Sanger Niazi is a resident of Jalalabad, Afghanistan. In 2013, he took refuge in India alongside along with his household. After the seize of the Taliban, greater than 15 thousand of his relations are trapped in Kabul. He is presently working in Jaypee Hospital, Noida. Niazi whereas speaking to NBT Online instructed that his brother was murdered on account of enmity. He took refuge in India after the loss of life of his father. His sister, together with his relative, is trapped in Kabul. After the modified scenario in Afghanistan, there are tears in his eyes in regards to the household and the countrymen. There is a worry of loss of life within the eyes of the individuals residing in Kabul. This is the explanation why he needs to depart Afghanistan. Whose scene is clearly seen on the airport. PM praised for making girls self-reliant, girls director herself wandering for housing, Taliban has already stabbed her by promising that many neighboring nations together with China, Pakistan assist Taliban are doing. In such a scenario, India is the one assist for Afghanistan. India has supported Afghanistan prior to now as effectively. He has stored his friendship. He hopes that India will give shelter to the residents there. He mentioned that Afghan residents wish to take refuge in India in the interim. He mentioned that despite the fact that the Taliban is claiming to guard civilians, it has been stabbed prior to now as effectively. .

  • As Taliban shut in on Kabul, world condemns rights abuse in Afghanistan

    As the Taliban proceed to grab extra territory and key cities, leaders all over the world have voiced their issues concerning human rights violations by the extremist group.
    Violence in Afghanistan escalated dramatically after US and different worldwide forces launched the ultimate stage of troop withdrawal following a 20-year occupation of the nation.

    Here’s how the world is reacting to the developments in Afghanistan:
    United Nations
    United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres stated that “horrifying” studies have emerged that the Taliban have severely restricted the rights of Afghan girls and ladies in areas they’ve seized. “I’m… deeply disturbed by early indications that the Taliban are imposing severe restrictions on human rights in the areas under their control, particularly targeting women and journalists,” Guterres instructed reporters on Friday.
    “It is particularly horrifying and heartbreaking to see reports of the hard-won rights of Afghan girls and women being ripped away,” he added.
    Food and medical provides are dwindling and important infrastructure together with colleges and clinics has been destroyed, he stated. The UN has appealed to neighbouring nations to maintain their borders open, to permit individuals to achieve security.
    More than 1,000 civilians have been killed in Afghanistan prior to now month alone, based on the UN.

    United States 
    President Joe Biden and different officers have repeatedly referred to as for Afghan leaders to unite and chalk out a transparent technique amid mounting worries that the insurgents may besiege Kabul inside months. The Pentagon and the State Department intently echoed Biden’s phrases, expressing issues over the Taliban’s positive factors within the absence of US and NATO troops for the primary time for the reason that 2001 invasion.
    Germany
    Germany Thursday stated it might cease sending monetary help to Afghanistan if the Taliban succeeded in seizing energy within the nation. Germany sends Afghanistan 430 million euros ($504 million) in support a yr, making it one of many greatest donors to the strife-hit nation. The Taliban is conscious of the truth that Afghanistan can’t survive with out worldwide support, Foreign Minister Heiko Maas instructed German broadcaster ZDF. “We will not send another cent to this country if the Taliban take complete control, introduce Sharia law and turn it into a caliphate,” Maas stated.
    Plumes of smoke rise after a struggle between the Taliban and Afghan safety personnel in Kandahar. (Photo: AP)
    Turkey
    Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has stated he may meet with the chief of the rebel Taliban group in an try to assist safe peace in Afghanistan. Turkey at present has troops in Afghanistan as a part of a NATO drive and has provided to safe the strategic Kabul airport after US forces go away by the tip of August.
    Denmark
    Roughly 45 Afghans employed by Denmark within the conflict-hit nation might be provided momentary asylum as worldwide troops withdraw, with different Nordic nations set to observe swimsuit. Afghans who labored for the Danish armed forces or embassy might be provided evacuation to Denmark and a two-year residence allow, the Danish overseas ministry has stated.
    Finland 
    Finland’s Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto stated the federal government was exploring methods of evacuating “at least dozens” of Afghans who’ve labored for the Nordic nation, echoing an identical promise from neighbouring Sweden.

  • Afghanistan disaster LIVE Updates: Taliban take Kandahar, nation’s second largest metropolis, in offensive in the direction of Kabul

    The Taliban captured two main Afghan cities, the nation’s second- and third-largest after Kabul, and a strategic provincial capital on Thursday, additional squeezing the embattled authorities simply weeks earlier than the top of the American army mission in Afghanistan.
    The seizure of Kandahar and Herat marks the largest prizes but for the Taliban, who’ve taken 12 of Afghanistan’s 34 provincial capitals as a part of a weeklong blitz. The seize of the town of Ghazni, in the meantime, cuts off an important freeway linking the Afghan capital, Kabul, with the nation’s southern provinces, all a part of an rebel push some 20 years after US and NATO troops invaded and ousted the Taliban authorities.

    Meanwhile, the US and UK are scrambling reinforcements to Kabul to assist evacuate their diplomats, troopers and residents in addition to 1000’s of Afghans who’ve labored with them, because the Taliban advance in the direction of the capital.
    The Pentagon introduced it might ship three battalions, about 3,000 troopers, to Kabul’s worldwide airport inside 24 to 48 hours of the announcement on Thursday. The UK stated it might ship 600 troops, and the defence secretary, Ben Wallace, stated Britain was relocating its embassy from the outskirts of the safe Green Zone to a doubtlessly safer location nearer to the centre of the capital.

  • Afghan management has to find out if they’ve the political will to battle again: US

    Amid Taliban forces more and more gaining floor in Afghanistan with some accounts placing 60 per cent of its territory beneath their management, the White House Wednesday stated it’s for the Afghan management to find out if they’ve the political will to battle again.
    The Biden administration asserted that the Afghan nationwide forces, which has been skilled by it for 20 years now, has the capabilities and gear to battle again.

    “Ultimately, the Afghan National Security Defence Forces have the equipment, numbers and training to fight back. They have what they need. What they need to determine is if they have the political will to fight back and if they have the ability to unite as leaders to fight back. That’s really where it stands at this point,” White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki informed reporters at her every day information convention.
    The United States, she stated, is intently watching the deteriorating safety situations in elements of the nation, however no explicit end result is inevitable.
    “We will continue to coordinate airstrikes with and in support of Afghan forces. And as the President made clear, Afghan leaders have to come together and the future of the country is really on their shoulders,” she stated.

    Nearby on the Foggy Bottom headquarters of the State Department, its spokesperson Ned Price famous that US’s ways are altering in Afghanistan.
    “The President has made the decision to withdraw our military forces. That says nothing about our support for the rights of the people of Afghanistan and what we have done and will continue to strive to do to bring stability and security to the people of Afghanistan, right now as we speak, through a diplomatic process. And I know you tend to discount diplomacy,” he stated.
    In Doha, its Special Representative Zalmay Khalilzad and his crew participated in a gathering of the prolonged troika, that’s to say, the United States, Russia, China, and Pakistan, he stated.
    There, the nations aligned efforts to press the Taliban to scale back violence, to have interaction critically and urgently and Afghan peace negotiations, together with the basic points wanted to resolve the battle, he added.
    “Tomorrow there will be a broader set of countries, we expect, that will come together,” he stated.
    A map exhibiting areas managed by Taliban. (Photo: AP)
    “All of this is our intention to forge a consensus and to have the international community, including countries in the region and beyond, to speak with one voice. Both sets of these meetings this week included briefings from both the Islamic Republic, that’s the Afghan government, and from the Taliban negotiating teams,” he stated.
    “Abdullah Abdullah, the chairman, is there representing the Afghan government. Mullah Baradar is there representing the Taliban. This is a high-level representation,” Price stated.
    Across the Potomac River, Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby informed reporters that the US continues to observe the state of affairs in Afghanistan intently.
    “We are mindful of the deteriorating security situation. And our focus right now remains on supporting the Afghan forces in the field, where and when feasible we can, from the air, as well as completing our drawdown in a safe and orderly way. We are on track to do that by the end of the month,” he stated.
    “We’re certainly mindful of the advances that the Taliban have made in — in terms of taking over, an increased number of provincial capitals. Our focus is on supporting the Afghans in the field where and when we can and completing this drawdown. I’m not going to speak about planning contingencies or potential outcomes,” he stated in response to a query.
    “The other thing I’d say is that no potential outcome has to be inevitable, including the fall of Kabul, which everybody seems to be reporting about. It doesn’t have to be that way. It really depends on the kind of political and military leadership that the Afghans can muster to turn this around. They have the capability, they have the capacity, and now it’s really time to use those things,” Kirby asserted.

  • Afghanistan disaster LIVE updates: Taliban seizes 3 extra provincial capitals, controls almost two-thirds of nation

    Taliban fighter is seen inside town of Farah, capital of Farah province southwest of Kabul, Afghanistan, Wednesday, Aug. 11, 2021. (AP)
    While the capital of Kabul itself has not been instantly threatened within the advance, the beautiful pace of the offensive raises questions of how lengthy the Afghan authorities can keep management of its countryside.
    On Wednesday, the headquarters of the Afghan National Army’s 217th Corps at Kunduz airport fell to the Taliban, in keeping with Ghulam Rabani Rabani, a provincial council member in Kunduz, and lawmaker Shah Khan Sherzad.
    The corps is one in all seven throughout the military and its loss represents a serious setback. The province’s capital, additionally referred to as Kunduz, was already amongst these seized, and the seize of the bottom now places the nation’s northeast firmly in Taliban palms.

  • Biden guidelines out modifications in US troop withdrawal plan from Afghanistan

    President Joe Biden has dominated out any change within the US plan to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan regardless of the Taliban more and more gaining management over giant swaths of the war-torn nation, saying Afghan leaders want to come back collectively and struggle for themselves and their nation.
    President Biden in April ordered the withdrawal of all of the US troops from Afghanistan by September 11 to finish America’s longest struggle.
    The Pentagon’s huge activity of eradicating service members and gear out of Afghanistan is sort of full and the US navy mission is slated to finish by August 31.
    “No,” Biden informed reporters on Tuesday on the White House when requested if his present plan to withdraw troops might change in any respect.
    “Look, we spent over a trillion dollars over 20 years. We trained and equipped over 300,000 Afghan forces. Afghan leaders have to come together. We lost thousands — lost to death and injury — thousands of American personnel. They’ve got to fight for themselves, fight for their nation,” he asserted.
    “The United States — I’ll insist we continue to keep the commitments we made of providing close air support, making sure that their air force functions and is operable, resupplying their forces with food and equipment, and paying all their salaries. But they’ve got to want to fight. They have outnumbered the Taliban,” Biden stated.
    As the US troops withdrew from Afghanistan, the Taliban has made beautiful battlefield advances regardless of being vastly outnumbered by the Afghan navy.
    Over the weekend, the Taliban seized 5 provincial Afghan capitals.
    Biden stated the Afghans are starting to grasp they’ve received to come back collectively politically on the prime.
    “But we are going to continue to keep our commitment. But I do not regret my decision,” he stated.
    Earlier, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki informed reporters the US went to Afghanistan to ship justice to those that attacked them on September 11, to disrupt terrorists searching for to make use of Afghanistan as a secure haven to assault the US.
    “We achieved those objectives some years ago,” she stated.
    “We judge the threat now against our homeland, which is his responsibility as commander-in-chief to focus on, as being one where the threat emanates from outside of Afghanistan,” she added.
    The President requested for a transparent evaluation, for a evaluation from his staff on what the doable implications could possibly be, she stated.
    “He asked them not to sugarcoat that. He asked them to lay out specifically and clearly what the consequences could be,” she added.
    “I’ll also note that we have provided a great deal and a range of assistance to the Afghan National Security Defence Forces and also proposed a significant amount of funding in the FY 2022 budget request for USD 3.3 billion for the Afghan Security Forces,” she stated.
    “So, he made a decision as commander-in-chief. Those are difficult decisions to make. He did it because after 20 years at war, it’s time to bring our troops — our men and women — home. And we will continue to be partners and supporters of their efforts on the ground,” Psaki stated.

    Pentagon spokesman John Kirby stated Monday that whereas the Biden administration plans to proceed to supply air help, there was not a lot else the US navy might do.
    “We will certainly support from the air, where and when feasible, but that’s no substitute for leadership on the ground, it’s no substitute for political leadership in Kabul, it’s no substitute for using the capabilities and capacity that we know they have,” Kirby stated.

  • Taliban rockets hit Kandahar airport, clashes intensify in Afghanistan

    Taliban fighters struck Kandahar airport in southern Afghanistan with a minimum of three rockets in a single day, the rebel group’s spokesman mentioned on Sunday, including that the goal was to thwart air strikes carried out by Afghan authorities forces.
    “Kandahar airport was targeted by us because the enemy were using it as a centre to conduct air strikes against us,” Zabiullah Mujahid, a Taliban spokesperson, informed Reuters.
    Afghan authorities officers mentioned the rocket assaults compelled authorities to droop all flights and that the runway was partially broken. There had been no fast experiences of casualties, they mentioned. Officials mentioned the Taliban see Kandahar as a serious strategic level, which they appear to be utilizing as a management centre for gaining full dominance over 5 different provinces.

    Clashes between Afghan forces and Taliban fighters have intensified within the cities of Kandahar and neighbouring Helmand province. In the west, Afghan officers mentioned Taliban commanders had been swiftly gaining management of strategic buildings round Heraat metropolis, forcing civilians to stay of their properties.

    The Taliban have been advancing in Afghanistan following the withdrawal of American and NATO troops from the nation and in latest weeks the fundamentalist Islamist group mentioned they’ve captured over half of all Afghanistan’s territory, together with border crossings with Iran and Pakistan.