More worries from US General in Afghanistan….

The bleak assessment by Gen. Austin “Scott” Miller, who met with journalists, came as Taliban forces continued their rapid advance across northern Afghan provinces and expanded into other rural regions. The insurgents also began drawing closer in a circle around the capital city.

In the past several days, officials and Afghan media reported, Taliban fighters have overrun parts of three provinces, all just short drives from Kabul on highways running north and south. They also attacked security posts in a third area that hugs the city’s western border.

Miller, who has led the U.S. military mission here since 2018, is overseeing the final drawdown of U.S. forces that once numbered more than 100,000 during the ­almost 20-year conflict with Taliban extremists. He described the drawdown as going well “from a military standpoint” and said he expected it to end on schedule. President Biden ordered that all U.S. forces leave Afghanistan by Sept. 11….

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“The security situation is not good,” Miller said. He cited the widening loss of territory and rising government troop casualties amid a “countrywide offensive” by the Taliban that has been running at the same time that peace talks are supposed to be taking place. “There are a lot of questions about why and how this is happening.”….

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