The Taliban now controls more than two-thirds of Afghanistan’s provincial capitals and, after a further assault on Saturday morning, Kabul is within its reach.
Pul-e-Alam – around 40 miles from the capital city – was overtaken with minimal resistance from residents, a local provincial council member told Reuters. Earlier today, Logar province was also captured and its officials detained, Hoda Ahmadi, a lawmaker from there, said.
It comes as American soldiers arrived to help evacuate embassy personnel and other civilians. In a televised address, Afghanistan’s president vowed to prevent the “achievements” of the last 20 years going to waste.
Meanwhile, a former head of the British Army has encouraged Boris Johnson to launch a humanitarian aid operation to alleviate the growing refugee crisis in Afghanistan. Lord Dannatt said the south Asian country was facing a “tragedy in the making” amid a rapidly increasing number of displaced people arriving in Kabul.
US carries out air strikes in Kandahar – report
The Americans have carried out air strikes just outside of Kandahar airport, according to local journalist Bilil Sarwary.
“Scores of Taliban fighters” have been killed, he says, quoting security sources and a doctor at a local hospital.
The militant group took control of Kandahar, Afghanistan’s second-largest city, on Friday. It is said to have been a major target for the Taliban because of its international airport, agricultural and industrial output.
“Police commanders … are refusing to surrender. They are fighting in a corner of the airport, they say we need stronger guarantees to surrender,” Mr Sarwary also reports in the thread on Twitter, citing sources.
Man who fled Taliban aged 12 discusses ‘betrayal’ of Afghan people
‘Only Afghans should decide their law,’ says Islam commentator
Here’s Roshan M Salih, editor of the Muslim news website 5Pillars, on why he believes the West should speedily accept Afghanistan’s incoming Taliban regime.
“Afghanistan has suffered from decades of foreign intervention, first by the Russians and then by the Americans, the British and Nato. All these colonial interventions have devastated the nation, causing nothing but death and destruction. They were also doomed to failure from the start because only Afghans have the legitimacy to build their own country.
I don’t speak for all Muslims but I know that many of us now hope and pray that peace and security will return to the country and the best way that can happen is for the Taliban to win quickly and control as much of the country as possible. I believe the negative reactions in the West to the Taliban’s advance are a lashing out after a huge, historic defeat. But taxpayers in the West should be furious at their governments for wasting so much money on an unwinnable war which has been nothing but a drain on national resources.
Finally I would say that many Muslims disagree with the Taliban’s interpretation of some aspects of Islamic law – especially restrictions on women working, etc – and it is our hope that harsher aspects of Taliban rule from the Nineties will not be repeated. That said, only Afghans have the right to decide what law they live by in accordance with their religion and culture. Western liberalism cannot be imposed on the Afghans.
We also are confident that the country will not be used as a base to attack the West. The signs are good that the Taliban have learned from previous errors and will have good relations with neighbouring countries. The international community should immediately recognise a new Taliban government and help it develop in a positive direction.”
German army ‘must help save those stuck in Afghanistan’ – CDU leader
Germany’s conservative candidate to succeed Angela Merkel as chancellor has called on the foreign ministry to quickly authorise German troops to assist in the departure of local helpers from Afghanistan.
“The Bundeswehr have to save these people,” Armin Laschet said at an event earlier. “That’s the moral obligation after everything they have done for us.”
It comes after foreign minister Heiko Maas said on Friday that Germany would bring forward charter flights originally planned for the end of August to evacuate non-essential embassy staff in Kabul as well as Afghan helpers.
“We can’t watch them any longer being threatened by the Taliban and fundamentalists,” Mr Laschet proclaimed.
He said the SPD-led foreign ministry had been too hesitant and should put forward a new parliamentary motion for a Bundeswehr mandate.
Laschet called out the SPD-led foreign ministry for being ‘too hesitant’
” height=”726″ width=”982″ srcset=”https://static.independent.co.uk/2021/08/14/15/newFile.jpg?width=640&auto=webp&quality=75 640w” layout=”responsive” class=”i-amphtml-layout-responsive i-amphtml-layout-size-defined” i-amphtml-layout=”responsive”> Laschet called out the SPD-led foreign ministry for being ‘too hesitant’
Kabul ‘within reach of Taliban’ as Ghani resists calls to quit
Some reporting from our defence editor, Kim Sengupta, from the ground in Kabul now. The Taliban are reported to be within seven miles of the Afghan capital, with skirmishes taking place in the outskirts of the city, he writes.
The sighting of the fighters in the Char Asyab came after the fall of Logar province, opening the road to the district which is now considered a part of Greater Kabul.
This was the latest in a series of moves which isolates the capital, with all routes out now cut.
Read Kim’s full piece here:
Academic warns of ‘bloody and destructive’ Taliban rule
Some commentary now from Kaweh Kerami, a PhD researcher at SOAS, University of London, and lecturer at the American University of Afghanistan (AUAF).
TI: Why do you think no one predicted how quickly the Taliban would advance?
KK: The expectation was that with the US’ continuous financial support, the Afghan forces would be both willing and able to fight the Taliban, and hold the government up for at least a year or two. In addition, the Afghan leadership in Kabul had hoped that [US president Joe] Biden would change his withdrawal plan by keeping his troops in Afghanistan in order to prevent a government collapse.
But given the fall of 17 provincial capitals in just eight days, including some major and strategic cities like Herat and Kandahar, it was proven that only money can indeed not buy the will to fight the Taliban. The swift Taliban’s advances also expose how dependent the Afghan government has been on the US and allies’ boots on the ground, for example providing them both air support as well as intelligence.
Moreover, this raises questions about how the $84m fund was spent in training and equipping the Afghan security forces since 2001, and whether that often quoted 300,000 military personnel really exist (ie perhaps a part of them could be ghost soldiers). At the Taliban end, while they have often relied on violence as their main leverage, this time they have effectively resorted to political means like using soft tools like using ethnic and religious elders, adopting some sort of impunity for those who surrender and distribute money.
TI: Can anything be done to stem the advance or is it time to accept the Taliban will soon be back in power?
KK: Given the Taliban’s recent significant advances and the momentum that they have created, their takeover of Kabul seems very likely. Since the last couple of weeks, there has not been a significant military resistance against them. And now that they have reached the doorsteps of Kabul, President Ghani seems to have hardly any option but to resign and flee the country.
Internationally, the US and allies have sufficed by stating that they wouldn’t recognise any Taliban government resulting from a military takeover (meaning also no foreign fund). But this alone hasn’t been deterrent to the Taliban’s aim of reimposing their regime that was forced into exile after the US intervention in 2001. Now the question is how the Taliban 2021 rule would be different from their brutal 1996-2001 regime. If they pursue maximalist, exclusionary, and brutal policies once again, their takeover of power wouldn’t mark the end of the war. Sooner or later, the resistance groups would emerge and fight them and some regional countries that aren’t happy with the Taliban return would fund the local resistance against the Taliban. The bloody and destructive war would be perpetuated.
TI: What is the most important thing for Western nations to do next?
KK: A humanitarian catastrophe is unfolding in Afghanistan, slowly slowly, and the international community must channel aid to help tens of thousands of people who have been internally displaced (IDPS) since the last couple of weeks. Also, the UN Security Council should call an emergency meeting to take effective measures to protect further civilian harm/casualty in these critical times and push for a political settlement.
Qatar urges Taliban to cease fire in Afghanistan
Following a meeting with the Taliban’s delegation in Doha, Qatar’s foreign minister has called for the insurgents to cease fire and pull back their offensive in Afghanistan, according to Reuters.
The meeting was announced by Qatar’s foreign ministry earlier today.
Video: Taliban captures Afghanistan’s third largest city
The Taliban seized Herat on Friday, Afghanistan’s third largest city, marking a symbolic and strategic gain which gives them control of the west of the country.
Ismail Khan, the veteran commander, was captured by the insurgents as a result.
Here’s Cal Byrne on what led to the city’s fall.
Taliban captures Afghanistan’s third largest city as advance towards Kabul continues
The Taliban have gained the biggest prize so far in their military offensive thus far after capturing Herat, Afghanistan’s third largest city and a huge symbolic and strategic gain which gives them control of the west of the country.Ismail Khan, the veteran mujahedin commander, has been captured by the Taliban as they took the city.The capture of Herat came through a sudden and sustained attack after the insurgents had been pushed back from the areas they held by an Afghan government operation earlier in the week.
Starmer joins calls for PM to send Afghanistan aid
Sir Keir Starmer has urged the government to respond to Afghan president Ashraf Ghani’s call for international assistance to end the ongoing conflict in Afghanistan.
It comes after Lord Dannatt, a former head of the British Army, issued a similar plea, warning that the south Asian country was facing a “tragedy in the making” amid a growing humanitarian crisis in the capital, Kabul.
In a pooled clip for broadcasters, the Labour leader said: “What I want to see is our government stepping up and leading this, and calling for an urgent meeting of Nato and an urgent United Nations Security Council meeting. We have obligations to Afghanistan, we made promises to Afghanistan and we cannot walk away and let this turn into a humanitarian crisis, probably refugee crisis as well.”
He continued: “There is a real risk that international terrorism will take hold again in Afghanistan, so we can’t walk away and undermine the legacy of the last 20 years.”
Sir Keir said the timing of the decision to pull out international forces from the country was “not right” as the Taliban continue to make gains.
“There appears to have been a miscalculation of the strength of the Taliban on the one side and the resilience of the Afghan troops and government on the other,” he added.
Drug and alcohol deaths hit record high due to treatment cuts
Some more news from Downing Street. Deaths from drug and alcohol misuse reportedly hit a record high following government cuts to treatment services across the country.
An analysis by the House of Commons Library found that more than £100m less was being spent per year on services between 2016-17 and 2019-20, reports our policy correspondent Jon Stone.
In the years leading up to the peak, services were cut by 15 per cent, with sharper slashes to local council areas in particular. The Commons Library figures show that just 10 councils have been able to find the cash to increase resources for drug and alcohol misuse.
