Some Afghan Government military people that can’t get out of the country are surrounding en masse….
The Taliban have figured out that instead of killing off the government and military people?
They should just turn them against the government….
As the Taliban expands its control across the country, fears are growing among Afghans that surrender deals made between government and military leaders and the Taliban will only fuel the militants’ advances. Many districts and a handful of provincial capitals fell to the fighters with little to no resistance.
On Wednesday, in the country’s north, hundreds of Afghan forces surrendered after a deal was brokered between Taliban leaders and commanders at a base on the edge of Kunduz city. The troops handed over dozens of Humvees and weapons in a move that allowed the Taliban to consolidate its control of the north.
An Interior Ministry spokesman, Mirwais Stanikzai, said Ghazni’s governor was arrested by the Afghan government for abandoning his provincial capital without a fight and for allowing the militants to drive him out of the province.
A senior Interior Ministry official said the Taliban runs a recruitment team that reaches out to Afghan officials, pushing them to join the militants.
“One of the main reasons we lost so much ground is the cooperation of officials with the Taliban,” he said, speaking on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to disclose such information to the news media….
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Afghan government control has shrunk to less than a third of the country’s territory. And while the United States is continuing to support Afghan forces with airstrikes, the withdrawal of foreign troops is set to conclude within weeks….
The American government ‘asks’ the Taliban to not overrun its embassy?….
Could American troops get stuck at the airport in Kabul?
The Pentagon is looking for safe passage of ALL Americans and the country friend’s….
(The US Military has reportedly added MORE ‘boots one the ground’ in Kabul as expected by some using their common sense)
President Biden the ‘compromise’ guy is betting that Taliban leaders will be looking ahead when they will have to run a country and actually need American assistance….
That may be smart….
Or’
Brutally naive…..
American negotiators are trying to extract assurances from the Taliban that they will not attack the U.S. Embassy in Kabul if the extremist group overruns the capital in a direct challenge to the country’s government, two American officials said.
The effort, led by Zalmay Khalilzad, the chief American envoy in talks with the Taliban, seeks to stave off an evacuation of the embassy as the fighters rapidly seize cities across Afghanistan. The Taliban’s advance has put embassies in Kabul on high alert for a surge of violence in coming months, or even weeks, and forced consulates and other diplomatic missions elsewhere in the country to shut down.
American diplomats now are trying to determine how soon they may need to evacuate the U.S. Embassy should the Taliban prove to be more bent on destruction than a détente. On Thursday, the embassy urged Americans who were not working for the U.S. government to leave Afghanistan immediately on commercial flights.
Biden administration officials insist that there are no immediate plans to significantly draw down the embassy’s staff of 4,000 employees, including about 1,400 Americans, as U.S. troops formally complete their withdrawal from the country….
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…a push-and-pull strain between the Pentagon and the State Department in similar situations, given the military’s responsibility for carrying out evacuations and diplomats’ duty to maintain American assistance and influence even in danger zones.
“If the military goes too early, it may be unnecessary, and it may cost you a lot politically,” Mr. Neumann said. “If the diplomats wait too late, it looks like Saigon off the roof or the departure from Mogadishu after everything was already lost, and it puts the military people at risk. So there’s no guaranteed right side.”
Another senior U.S. official expressed alarm this week at the fall of the provincial capitals across Afghanistan, and said that if other cities follow, particularly Mazar-i-Sharif, the only major northern city still under government control, the situation could disintegrate quickly. But Pentagon officials also noted that Afghan commandos are fighting hard in Lashkar Gah and Kandahar and have so far held off Taliban advances there….
Thoroughly predictable .
Yes….
Indeed Jack….
Biden’s rush to depart was ill planned……
This COULD go down in the books as Saigon 2.0…..
It is unknown how the Taliban will try to govern, which is what Biden is gambling on…..
The Pentagon HAD to know that the Afghan military was never as strong as the numbers they paraded out….
The Taliban is about the fight FOR the country…
They aren’t much thinking about anything else…
This is a country that has lived with war and conflict for a long…Long…LONG time….
Pakistan, Iran and Turkey will have problems dropped in their laps because of this….
No we don’t “agree “ at all.
What was predictable was that this so called government and army would fold up as soon as we left.
They never had any independent existence .
We created them .Quite apparently they had little popular support.
As I stated yesterday , no one cares about this anymore.
So the Taliban takes over.As we speak the so called “army” is probably busy selling their weaponry to the highest bidder , either the Taliban or some aspiring warlord for the ensuing civil war or better put the continuing Civil War that was interrupted by the American intrusion .The politicians that we installed are now planning their exit strategy as they loot what’s left of the national treasury .
This country will just never learn that creating these “governments “ and “armies “ never works it.
That’s what I meant was “thoroughly predictable.”
The Guardian
@guardian
UK to send 600 troops to Afghanistan to aid evacuation as Taliban advance
We DO agree that the Afghan military would NOT be able to stand by itself…..
U have no feeling for those left behind…..
Corruption almost always plays a part in these situation as it has there…
The concept of a centralised Government is also a heavy lift….
Added is the difference in muslin sects…..
U overlook a period of relative calm during the Western intrusion…
Now we have things back to the civil war…
My complaint is more with Biden’s unplanned rush to the exits…
He should have done better….
The concept of NOT getting involved around the planet is naive and impossible….
The US has military assets ALL around the world…..
150,000 to 200,000….
Link….
The withdrawal from Afghanistan is part of the INCREASED military assets facing China……
Your “complaint” is that you wanted theUnited States to stay there forever because you love all these stupid foreign wars.
I have no “ feeling” for someone like you who claims to “care” about the “poor Afghans.”
CG and I agreed on little but one thing we did …
You’re a well known LIAR.
While I continue to post here.This will be my final interaction with you.That stupid bs whereby you pleaded with CG to return and you would assure that no one called him by his real name and your refusal to fess up about the whole silliness after I questioned you about it tells me all I need to know about you .
It’s ur keyboard……
James, I can Understand concerns that Iran and Pakistan will have with the Taliban gaining control, but I don’t understand why you also included Turkey. I would probably have included many other countries before Turkey.
And it is NOT unknown how the Taliban will govern. We already watched that movie.but Afghanistan is not our business any more than it is it other countries business to decide which party should govern in the US.
Biden was correct to leave Afghanistan. On this, he accomplished what Obama and Trump promised, but failed to do.
I’m NOT concerned about other countries in the region getting stuff dropped in their lap..,.,
Biden gets props for that….
Some of the thousands leaving are traveling across Iran TO Turkey which isn’t happy just like with the Kurds
America seeks to have relations with every country
Read the linked piece
Biden’s order to leave was ill planned
We will see the results play out and pray
Things don’t go upside down for American’s there or those who helped Americans be safe…
I thought more troops would have to comeback to secure things…. Even if temporary
BYW?
Posters here don’t care about the Afghan situation
Bit Biden IS gonna suffer political fallout on it…..
Thousands Flee Taliban Onslaught
BBC: “The UN has urged Afghanistan’s neighbors to keep their borders open as the number of civilians fleeing the Taliban onslaught swells.”
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President Biden is facing a potential foreign policy and humanitarian catastrophe in Afghanistan as the Taliban makes rapid gains, capturing major cities and prompting concerns over the safety of U.S. diplomatic personnel and civilians on the ground….
More…
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The U.S. Embassy in Kabul on Friday ordered staff to destroy classified and other sensitive materials as the office prepares to reduce its number of diplomats amid growing territorial gains by the Taliban, a State Department spokesperson confirmed to The Hill.
The Washington Post and CNN first reported that an internal memo from embassy leadership told staff to use incinerators, disintegrators and “burn bins” within the compound to destroy “sensitive material.”
The memo also reportedly said to destroy “embassy or agency logos, American flags, or items which could be misused in propaganda efforts.”…
More…
“There’s going to be no circumstance when you’re going to see people being lifted off the roof,” he said.
But on Thursday, the drama in Afghanistan came closer to that scene than Biden might have envisioned, as the president found himself ordering thousands of troops back into Kabul to help evacuate American diplomats from the bunkered U.S. Embassy.
The moment highlighted the enormous gamble Biden has taken in drawing down a conflict he believes has lasted too long and cost too many lives. The Taliban’s strikingly rapid onslaught is bolstering the appearance that the United States lost or gave up in Afghanistan, a prospect from which Americans have historically recoiled…
More…
Afghanistan’s rapid unraveling is already raising grumblings about American credibility, compounding the wounds of the Trump years and reinforcing the idea that America’s backing for its allies is not unlimited.
The Taliban’s lightning advance comes at a moment when many in Europe and Asia had hoped that President Biden would reestablish America’s firm presence in international affairs, especially as China and Russia angle to extend their influence. Now, America’s retreat is bound to sow doubts.
“When Biden says ‘America is back,’ many people will say, ‘Yes, America is back home,’” said François Heisbourg, a French defense analyst.
“Few will gang up on the U.S. for finally stopping a failed enterprise,” he said. “Most people would say it should have happened a long time ago,’’ But in the longer term, he added, “the notion that you cannot count on the Americans will strike deeper roots because of Afghanistan.’’….
More…
President Biden is right to leave….
The unplanned hastiness and its results will stay with him as a part of his legacy……
NY Post…..
Critics slam Biden’s long-weekend silence as Afghanistan falls to Taliban
Republican leaders are slamming President Biden for taking a long weekend out of the public eye as major cities fall to the Taliban in Afghanistan.
Biden on Thursday sent 3,000 US troops to Kabul to evacuate embassy workers as the Taliban seized Herat and Kandahar, Afghanistan’s second- and third-largest cities — but he hasn’t commented publicly on the crisis since Tuesday.
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said Friday that Biden “must immediately focus all efforts on making sure there is a plan to safely extract all American service members and civilians still remaining in Afghanistan.”
“He also owes the American public an answer on what he plans to do to make sure the region doesn’t turn into a breeding ground for more violent extremism that will lead to large-scale global attacks of terrorism,” McCarthy said.
Rep. Guy Reschenthaler (R-Pa.) told The Post, “this strategy of putting your head in the sand and not taking questions is a way to not get associated with his military debacle.”…
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McConnell….
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said Friday that the U.S. should start conducting airstrikes against the Taliban and provide support to Afghan forces to stop the insurgent group from capturing the Afghan capital amid the withdrawal of U.S. troops.
McConnell said in a statement that “it is not too late to prevent the Taliban from overrunning Kabul. The Administration should move quickly to hammer Taliban advances with air strikes, provide critical support to the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces (ANDSF) defending the capital, and prevent the seemingly imminent fall of the city.”….
More…
Spotlight on the ‘truth’ as things go in the toilet…
“The Afghan forces are better than we thought they were,” Marine Gen. John Allen told Congress in 2012. “The Afghan national security forces are winning,” Army Lt. Gen. Joseph Anderson told reporters in 2014.
But in a trove of confidential government interviews obtained by The Washington Post, U.S., NATO and Afghan officials described their efforts to create an Afghan proxy force as a long-running calamity. With most speaking on the assumption that their remarks would remain private, they depicted the Afghan security forces as incompetent, unmotivated, poorly trained, corrupt and riddled with deserters and infiltrators…
More….
I’m just shocked?
“Incompetent,unmotivated,poorly trained, corrupt , “cowardly to boot?
Who would have thunk that?