Pul-e-Alam, capital of Loghar province, was the last city to fall on Friday (File)
Kabul:
The Taliban seized more major cities on Friday as they raced for full control of Afghanistan and moved closer to Kabul as the United States prepared to air thousands of people a day out of the capital.
The first US Marines to lead the evacuations landed at the civilian airport in Kabul, one of the few cities left in government hands after the Taliban took possession of their spiritual heartland, Kandahar, Afghanistan’s second largest city.
The scale and speed of the attack has shocked Afghans and the US-led alliance that poured billions into the country after overthrowing the Taliban in the wake of the September 11 attacks nearly 20 years ago.
Days before a final US withdrawal on the orders of President Joe Biden, individual soldiers, units and even entire divisions have surrendered — giving the insurgents even more vehicles and military equipment to fuel their lightning-fast advance.
Pul-e-Alam, the capital of Loghar province, was the last city to fall on Friday, leaving the Taliban only 50 kilometers (30 miles) from Kabul.
Khairddin Logari, a native of the capital, summed up the confusion.
“We don’t know what’s going on,” he told AFP.
British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said Friday that the hasty withdrawal that followed London after Biden ordered the withdrawal of the larger US contingent had been “a mistake”.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson promised “not to turn his back on Afghanistan”, but acknowledged that outside power had limited power to impose a solution.
– ‘Completely conquered’ –
Earlier Friday, Kandahar officials and residents told AFP that government forces had retreated en masse to a military facility outside the southern city.
“Kandahar has been completely conquered. The Mujahideen have reached Martyrs Square,” a Taliban spokesman tweeted, referring to a city landmark.
Hours later, the Taliban said they had also taken control of Lashkar Gah, the capital of neighboring Helmand province.
A security source confirmed the fall of the city and told AFP that Afghan military and government officials had evacuated Lashkar Gah after agreeing a local ceasefire with the militants.
In Herat, the Taliban on Friday captured the city’s strongman, Ismail Khan, who, along with his militia fighters, helped lead the defense of the provincial capital.
The warlord’s spokesman later confirmed that Khan had been allowed to return to his residence after negotiations with the insurgents.
Helicopters flew back and forth between the Kabul airport and the sprawling US diplomatic compound in the heavily fortified green zone — 46 years after helicopters evacuated Americans from Saigon, heralding the end of the Vietnam War.
Biden ordered troops to the airport to withdraw some 30,000 embassy employees, as well as Afghans and their families who fear retaliation for working as interpreters or in other support roles for the United States.
Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said most of the 3,000 troops will be in place on Sunday and will be able to move “thousands a day” out of Afghanistan.
“Capacity will not be an issue,” he told reporters.
He said Kabul was “not in an imminent threat environment right now,” but the Taliban appeared to be pursuing a strategy of isolating the city in order to force a surrender.
Britain is also evacuating civilians and other countries, including Denmark, Norway and Germany, have announced that their embassies in Kabul would be temporarily closed or their operations restricted due to security concerns.
– Kandahar calm –
The insurgents have taken more than half of the country’s provincial capitals in the past week and surrounded the largest city in the north, the traditional anti-Taliban bastion of Mazar-i-Sharif, which is now one of the few remaining.
In Kandahar, resident Abdul Nafi told AFP the city was calm after government forces withdrew early Friday.
“I came out this morning and saw white Taliban flags in most of the city’s squares,” he said. “I thought it might be the first day of Eid.”
Pro-Taliban accounts on social media have boasted of the huge spoils of war captured by the insurgents, posting photos of armored vehicles, heavy weapons and even a drone seized by their fighters on abandoned military bases.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres renewed the call for a diplomatic solution, saying he was “deeply disturbed” by reports of the ill-treatment of women in areas seized by the Taliban, which attacked Afghanistan during their 1996–96 struggle. 2001 imposed an ultra-strict form of Islam. rule.
“It is particularly appalling and heartbreaking to see messages about the hard-won rights of Afghan girls and women being ripped off,” Guterres said.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NewsMadura staff and has been published from a syndicated feed.)
