By Shadi Khan Saif
KABUL, Afghanistan (AA): Taliban fighters enter outskirts of the capital Kabul, after Afghanistan’s major eastern city of Jalalabad, next to Pakistan, fell Sunday to the Taliban with the local governor’s surrender leaving Kabul as only major city in government control. Meanwhile US announces it will send 5,000 troops to evacuate US nationals.
Sky News reports that three Afghan officials told AP Taliban have reached outskirts of Kabul. They also report that Taliban leaders in Doha who are continuing their talks with the Americans have ordered their followers in Afghanistan to refrain from violence in Kabul and allow safe passage for anyone wishing to leave the country. The US has been putting pressure on the Taliban in Doha not to attack US nationals in Kabul.
With the fall of Nangarhar, the Afghanistan capital of Kabul has effectively fallen under siege from three directions to the Taliban.
“The city of Jalalabad, the center of Nangarhar, was completely ‘conquered’.
Moments before, the governor, the intelligence (HQ), the police chief and all the facilities were seized by the ‘Mujahideen’. All the tools, equipment and resources in the province also fell into the hands of the ‘Mujahideen,’” tweeted Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahed.
Afghanistan’s northern gateway to Central Asia, Mazar-e-Sharif, fell to the Taliban late Friday.
Local officials told Anadolu Agency that at least seven provincial capitals, Mazar-e-Sharif of Balkh, Maymana of Faryab, Sharana of Paktika, Asadabad of Kunar, Mehtarlam of Laghman, Nili of Daykundi and Gardez of Paktia crumbled on Saturday.
The fall of Mazar-e-Sharif stands out in terms of its strategic importance in the heart of northern provinces. It is the regional headquarters of the army and main bastion of key politicians such as Abdul Rasheed Dostum, Atta Muhammad Noor and Muhammad Muhaqiq.
Meanwhile, in a short televised speech, Afghan President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani vowed on Saturday to continue defending his government.
“The country is in serious danger of instability,” he said.
Meanwhile, US President Joe Biden said Saturday that Washington will send 5,000 troops to Afghanistan’s capital to evacuate embassy staff.
“I have authorized the deployment of approximately 5,000 U.S. troops to make sure we can have an orderly and safe drawdown of U.S. personnel and other allied personnel, and an orderly and safe evacuation of Afghans who helped our troops during our mission and those at special risk from the Taliban advance,” Biden said in a statement.
He stressed that troops will “maintain the capability and the vigilance to address future terrorist threats from Afghanistan.”
Biden said he directed Secretary of State Antony Blinken to back up Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and other leaders of the country to avoid any more “bloodshed” and to try to solve that nation’s problems politically. Blinken will also contact important regional authorities.
“We have conveyed to the Taliban representatives in Doha, via our Combatant Commander, that any action on their part on the ground in Afghanistan, that puts U.S. personnel or our mission at risk there, will be met with a swift and strong U.S. military response,” said Biden.
Additional report by The Muslim News
[Photo: Thousands of families flee from Taliban’s offensive seek refuge in Kabul, Afghanistan on August 10, 2021. Photographer: Sayed Khodaiberdi Sadat/AA]
