Kandahar falls, Taliban on way to Kabul’s gates | World News - Hindustan Times
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Kandahar falls, Taliban on way to Kabul’s gates

Agencies | , Kabul
Aug 14, 2021 07:29 AM IST

In just the last 24 hours, the country’s second- and third-largest cities — Herat in the west and Kandahar in the south — have fallen as has the capital of the southern Helmand province, where American, British and NATO forces fought some of the bloodiest battles of the conflict.

The Taliban completed their sweep of the country’s south on Friday as they took four more provincial capitals in a lightning offensive that is gradually encircling Kabul, just weeks before the US is set to officially end its two-decade war.

Plumes of smoke rise into the sky after fighting between the Taliban and Afghan security personnel in Kandahar, Afghanistan, southwest of Kabul.(AP Photo)
Plumes of smoke rise into the sky after fighting between the Taliban and Afghan security personnel in Kandahar, Afghanistan, southwest of Kabul.(AP Photo)

In just the last 24 hours, the country’s second- and third-largest cities — Herat in the west and Kandahar in the south — have fallen as has the capital of the southern Helmand province, where American, British and NATO forces fought some of the bloodiest battles of the conflict.

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The blitz through the Taliban’s southern heartland means the insurgents now hold half of Afghanistan’s 34 provincial capitals and control more than two-thirds of the country.

The Western-backed government in the capital, Kabul, still holds a smattering of provinces in the centre and east, as well as the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif.

While Kabul isn’t directly under threat yet, the resurgent Taliban were battling government forces in Logar province, some 80 kilometres (50 miles) from the capital. The US military has estimated that Kabul could come under insurgent pressure within 30 days and that the Taliban could overrun the rest of the country within a few months. They have already taken over much of the north and west of the country.

The blitz pushed the US to rush 3,000 fresh troops in a temporary deployment to speed evacuation flights for some American diplomats and thousands of Afghans. The Pentagon also was moving another 4,500 to 5,000 troops to bases in the Gulf countries of Qatar and Kuwait, including 1,000 to Qatar to speed up visa processing for Afghan translators and others who fear retribution from the Taliban for their past work with Americans, and their family members.

India, Germany, Qatar, Turkey and several other nations have reaffirmed to not recognise any government in Afghanistan that is imposed through the use of military force and called for an immediate end to violence and attacks in the war-torn country.

A statement issued by Qatar on Friday following two separate meetings on Afghanistan in Doha said the participating countries agreed that the Afghan peace process needs to be accelerated as a matter of “great urgency”.

In the south of Afghanistan, the insurgents swept through the three provincial capitals on Friday.

Attaullah Afghan, the head of the provincial council in Helmand, said that the Taliban captured Lashkar Gah following weeks of heavy fighting and raised their white flag over governmental buildings. He said that three national army bases outside of the city remain under control of the government.

Atta Jan Haqbayan, the provincial council chief in Zabul province, said the local capital of Qalat fell and that officials were in a nearby army camp preparing to leave. Bismillah Jan Mohammad and Qudratullah Rahimi, lawmakers from Uruzgan province, said local officials surrendered Tirin Kot. Taliban fighters paraded through a main square there, driving a Humvee and a pickup seized from Afghan security forces.

Danish broadcaster TV2, meanwhile, quoted foreign minister Jeppe Kofod as saying that the country’s embassy in Kabul is closing temporarily and staff are being evacuated. Germany is reducing its embassy staff in Kabul to “the operationally necessary, absolute minimum,” foreign minister Heiko Maas told reporters Friday, as he urged all German citizens to leave the country immediately.

Thousands of Afghans have fled their homes amid fears the Taliban will return the country to the sort of brutal, repressive rule it imposed when it was last in power at the turn of the millennium. At that time, the group all but eliminated women’s rights and conducted public executions as it imposed an unsparing version of Islamic law.

An early sign of such tactics came in Herat, where insurgents paraded two alleged looters through the streets on Friday with black makeup smeared on their faces.

There are also concerns that the fighting could plunge the country into civil war, which is what happened after the Soviets withdrew in 1989. Peace talks in Qatar between the Taliban and the government remain stalled, though diplomats are still meeting, as the US, European and Asian nations warned that battlefield gains would not lead to political recognition.

“We demand an immediate end to attacks against cities, urge a political settlement, and warn that a government imposed by force will be a pariah state,” said Zalmay Khalilzad, the US envoy to the talks.

But the Taliban advance continued.

The onslaught represents a stunning collapse of Afghan forces after the United States spent nearly two decades and $830 billion trying to establish a functioning state. US forces toppled the Taliban in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, which al-Qaida planned and executed while being sheltered by the Taliban government. The fighters now advancing across the country ride on American-made Humvees and carry M-16s pilfered from Afghan forces.

Bill Roggio, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said the Afghan army has rotted from within due to corruption and mismanagement, leaving troops in the field poorly equipped and with little motivation to fight. The Taliban, meanwhile, have spent a decade taking control of large swaths of the countryside. That allowed them to rapidly seize key infrastructure and urban areas once President Joe Biden announced the timeline for the US withdrawal, saying he was determined to end America’s longest war.

“Whatever forces are left or remaining that are in the Kabul area and the provinces around them, they’re going to be used for the defense of Kabul,” Roggio said. “Unless something dramatically changes, and I don’t see how that’s possible, these provinces (that have fallen) will remain under Taliban control.”

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