Taliban take over Afghanistan, as U.S, E.U send troops to evacuate citizens
After nearly 20 years of fighting, Afghanistan is set to relinquish power to the Islamist group, Taliban.
Afghanistan’s acting Afghan Interior Minister Abdul Sattar Mirzakwal finally confirmed this much, Sunday, in a video message, broadcast to the country’s citizens and residents.
Mirzakwal said the country will have a ‘peaceful transfer of power’ to the Taliban, as talks are believed to have already been concluded to form an interim government led by the militant group.
Already rumoured to have fled the country on the advance of the Taliban forces into the country’s capital Kabul, President Ashraf Ghani, is expected to relinquish power shortly.
“Afghanistan will have a ‘peaceful transfer of power to a transitional government led by the Taliban.
“The Afghan people should not worry… There will be no attack on the city and there will be a peaceful transfer of power,” Mirzakwal said in the video.
Around the same time on Sunday, it was reported that the Taliban issued a statement saying it was in talks with “the other side” for a peaceful surrender of the capital and confirmed that the group would refrain from violence.
“No one’s head, property or honor will be harmed and the lives of Kabulis will not be in danger. The Islamic Emirate instructs all its forces to stand at the gates of Kabul and not try to enter the city,” a spokesperson said.
However, President Ghani’s media aides have denied reports that he has fled the country.
Since the pullout of American along with NATO forces from Afghanistan, the Taliban have brought large parts of the country under their control.
In the past few days, the Islamists took around half of the 34 Afghan provincial capitals, including the second largest city of Kandahar. And on Friday, after conquering the provincial capital Pul-i-Alam, they were only 50 kilometers from Kabul.
It would be recalled that US forces invaded the then Taliban-government in Afghanistan weeks after the September 2001 attacks in New York by the Afghanistan-based al-Qaeda group.
The US launched air strikes one month following the 11 September 2001 attacks and after the Taliban had refused to hand over the man behind them, Osama bin Laden.
The US was joined by an international coalition and the Taliban were quickly removed from power in Afghanistan. However, they turned into an insurgent force and continued deadly attacks, destabilising subsequent Afghan governments.
The international coalition ended its combat mission in 2014, staying only to train Afghan forces. But the US continued its own, scaled-back combat operation, including air strikes.
The Taliban was in control of the country between 1996 and 2001.
Earlier Saturday, United States President Joe Biden raised the number of American forces sent to Afghanistan to participate in the evacuation of embassy staff and Afghan civilians, warning the Taliban movement advancing to Kabul not to obstruct this mission.
Biden said that after consulting with his national security team, he decided to send ‘about five thousand’ US soldiers, that is, 2,000 more than the scheduled number, explaining that these soldiers will be deployed in Afghanistan to organize the evacuation and end the American mission after twenty years of field operations.
US Central Command spokesman, Commandant Bill Urban, said that after the arrival of the first force of Marines on Friday, US soldiers “continue” to land in Kabul to evacuate diplomats and Afghans who had dealt with the United States and feared Taliban retaliation.
He did not specify the number of soldiers, nor did he say whether the evacuation of diplomats from the US embassy in Kabul had begun.
This week, about 4,200 people work at the US embassy in Kabul, where thousands of Afghan interpreters and others who have helped US forces are seeking to leave, fearing Taliban reprisals.
The Pentagon estimates that about 30,000 people will need to be evacuated by August 31, with the deadline set by President Joe Biden to complete the withdrawal from this country.
On Saturday, Taliban militants took control of the city of Mazar-i-Sharif and became on the outskirts of the Afghan capital, Kabul.
It would be recalled that the United States ended support for the Afghanistan government in 2019 after 20 year of backing the country in the hope that it will reach a peaceful settlement with the Taliban fighters backed by Russia.
Last Saturday, President Biden again defended his decision to withdraw the US army from Afghanistan, saying, “I am the fourth president to take office in light of the presence of American forces in Afghanistan. I will not bequeath this war to a fifth president.”
Following 20 years of military operations, United States and other foreign soldiers have almost completely gone.
“They have to fight for themselves, fight for their nation,” said Biden of Afghan leaders coming together.
He stated that he did not regret the decision to recall troops and that the United States will continue to offer air support.
Biden’s predecessor Donald Trump had initiated the pullout of American troops from Afghanistan back in February 2020 after signing a peace deal with the Taliban. The development consequently saw the thinning of U.S support staff in the country.
In February 2020, then United States President Donald Trump and the Taliban signed an ‘agreement for bringing peace’ to Afghanistan after more than 18 years of conflict.
The US and its NATO allies also agreed to withdraw all troops within 14 months if the militants uphold the deal.
President Trump said it had been a ‘long and hard journey’ in Afghanistan. “It’s time after all these years to bring our people back home,” he said.
Under the agreement, the Islamists agreed not to allow al-Qaeda or any other extremist group to operate in the areas they control.
Trump noted that the Taliban had been trying to reach an agreement with the US for a long time, adding that US troops had been killing terrorists in Afghanistan ‘by the thousands’ and now it was ‘time for someone else to do that work and it will be the Taliban and it could be surrounding countries.’
“I really believe the Taliban wants to do something to show we’re not all wasting time. If bad things happen, we’ll go back with a force like no-one’s ever seen,” Trump added.
The deal was signed by US special envoy Zalmay Khalilzad and Taliban political chief Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar with former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo as a witness.
Under the agreement, within the first 135 days of the deal the US will reduce its forces in Afghanistan to 8,600, with allies also drawing down their forces proportionately.
The move would allow US President Donald Trump to show that he has brought troops home ahead of the US presidential election in November.
The deal also provides for a prisoner swap. Some 5,000 Taliban prisoners and 1,000 Afghan security force prisoners would be exchanged by March 10, when talks between the Taliban and the Afghan government are due to start.
The US will also lift sanctions against the Taliban and work with the UN to lift its separate sanctions against the group.
The agreement was largely driven by America’s determination to bring troops home and recognition, at least by some Taliban, that talks are the best route to return to Kabul, the Afghanistan capital city.
On assumption of power in 2020, President Biden followed up on the agreement by reducing the number of troops in Afghanistan as he also encouraged the country’s government to reach a power sharing agreement with the Islamists with a view to securing long lasting peace in the Muslim nation.
In the last 18 years of the battle for control of Afghanistan, the Taliban have been on the back foot. In late 2009, former President Barack Obama announced a troop ‘surge’ that saw the number of American soldiers in Afghanistan top 100,000.
The surge helped drive the Taliban out of parts of southern Afghanistan, but it was never destined to last for years.
U.S Pentagon spokesperson, John Kirby, admitted that it is deeply concerning at how fast the Taliban is taking over the country.
“This is a moment for Afghans to unite, a moment for Afghan national security and defense forces and their political leaders. So in other words, it’s up to the Afghans alone to figure this out.
“They (Afghanistan Armed Forces) have greater numbers. They have an air force – a capable air force which by the way is flying more airstrikes than we are, every day. They have modern equipment. They have organizational structure. They have the benefit of the training we have provided them over twenty years. They have the material, the physical, the tangible advantages; it’s time now to use those advantages,” Kirby said.
For the United Kingdom, Afghanistan is becoming a failed state where terrorist groups including al-Qaeda can come back and pose security risks towards Western countries, the British defense minister said on Friday.
“I am absolutely worried,” defense minister Ben Wallace told Sky News. “Failed states are breeding grounds for those type of people … (and) al-Qaeda will probably come back.”
Ben Wallace reproached the U.S. removal of troops from Afghanistan, labelling a peace agreement signed by the U.S. and the Taliban in 2020 under president Trump as a “mistake” and “rotten.”
“Britain found that out in the 1830s — that it is a country led by warlords and led by different provinces and tribes, and you end up, if you’re not very careful, in a civil war,” he told the BBC. “I think we are heading towards a civil war.”
As the speed of the Taliban offensive continues to shock the Afghan government and its Western allies, Wallace warned that the Taliban is a group with “all sorts of different interests.”
“Failed states around the world lead to instability and lead to a security threat to us and our interests,” he added, noting the U.K. would have the right to defend itself if terror plots against it are uncovered in Afghanistan.
For the Germans, the rapid advance of the radical Islamic Taliban in Afghanistan and the growing number of refugees in and from the country in the Hindu Kush are also increasing the pressure on the European Union and Germany.
“The number of refugees has already increased dramatically,” said the Minister of State in the Foreign Office (AA), Michael Roth.
Roth stated that there are currently 3.5 million internally displaced persons in the Hindu Kush, 400,000 this year alone. The pressure will not only continue to grow “massively” on Turkey, Iran and Pakistan.
“I am sure that the migratory pressure on the EU and Germany will also increase,” said the Minister of State. It is all the more important that the EU agreement with Turkey to support the refugees on site is implemented quickly. There was already a revision of the agreement in June.
Since the beginning of the complete withdrawal of NATO troops from Afghanistan, the Taliban have brought large parts of the country under their control. In the past few days, the Islamists took around half of the 34 Afghan provincial capitals, including the second largest city of Kandahar. On Friday, after conquering the provincial capital Pul-i-Alam, they were only 50 kilometers from Kabul.
There are currently well over 100 Germans in Afghanistan, including the diplomats and employees of the embassy in Kabul as well as experts from other ministries and organizations. Local staff are also to be flown out. Their exact number is still unclear. Organizations from the department of the Federal Development Ministry alone currently have more than 1,000 local employees in Afghanistan.
Germany’s Foreign Minister of Defense promised Michael Roth that German citizens would be protected in Afghanistan. “We will organize one or two charter flights by the end of the month to bring a larger number of people to Germany.” Foreign Minister Heiko Maas (SPD) had declared that the German embassy should remain “able to work”, but the staff would “Reduced to the operationally necessary absolute minimum”.
Denmark and Norway announced the temporary closure of their diplomatic missions in Kabul. The USA announced on Thursday that it would reduce its embassy staff and send around 3,000 additional soldiers to the airport in Kabul. London also wants to send around 600 soldiers to secure the repatriation of the British.
Defense Department spokesman John Kirby said Friday that US forces could evacuate thousands of people from Kabul every day. Air transport capacity is “not a problem,” said Kirby. In his words, Kabul is not currently “threatened”. The Taliban tried to isolate the capital.
Canada had already promised on Friday (local time) to take in up to 20,000 refugees. “The situation in Afghanistan is heartbreaking and Canada will not stand idly by,” said Immigration Minister Marco Mendicino. Canada wants to take in “particularly vulnerable” Afghans who are still in the country or who have fled to neighboring countries.
On his part, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said the Taliban committed serious human rights violations in the regions they controlled, according to the United Nations. According to “initial indications”, women and journalists in particular are affected.
“It is particularly horrific and heartbreaking to see reports that Afghan girls and women have their hard-won rights stolen,” Guterres said. “Attacks on civilians are a serious violation of international humanitarian law and are synonymous with war crimes,” he said.
During their rule from 1996 to 2001, the Taliban introduced a strict interpretation of Islamic law in Afghanistan. Girls were excluded from education, women from working life. Crimes were punished with public flogging or executions.
More than 2,400 US troops have been killed during the conflict. About 12,000 are still stationed in the country. President Trump has promised to put an end to the conflict.
Nearly 3,500 members of the international coalition forces have died in Afghanistan since the 2001 invasion.
The figures for Afghan civilians, militants and government forces are more difficult to quantify. In a February 2019 report, the UN said that more than 32,000 civilians had died. The Watson Institute at Brown University says 58,000 security personnel and 42,000 opposition combatants have been killed.