US alarmed as Afghan forces buckle under Taliban assault
More than 10000 Afghan troops flee Taliban advances as, demoralised and poorly equipped, hundreds more lay down arms.
The American general masterminding the withdrawal of NATO forces has expressed alarm at the speed of the Afghan army’s retreat, with more than a thousand troops fleeing across the Tajikistan border in the face of Taliban advances.
Routed by the insurgents after clashes across the northern province of Badakhshan, the Afghan soldiers escaped across a bridge. Demoralised and poorly equipped, hundreds more have laid down their arms and surrendered after their positions were overrun.
More than 1037 Afghan security personnel fled across the frontier, Tajikistan’s national security committee said, as it ordered 20,000 of its own soldiers to reinforce the border. The Taliban posted videos online showing Afghan soldiers surrendering.
‘It’s not good’
General Austin Scott Miller, 60, the commander of US and NATO forces in Afghanistan, admitted in an ABC interview broadcast on Monday that the security situation the coalition will leave behind is dire. “I don’t like leaving friends in need,” he said. “We should be concerned. The loss of terrain and the rapidity of that loss of terrain has to be concerning. You look at the security situation, it’s not good.
“The Taliban are on the move. War is physical, but it’s also got a psychological or moral component, and hope actually matters. What you don’t want to have happen is that the people lose hope.”
Families flee
Fighting has reached the outskirts of Faizabad, capital of the northern province of Badakhshan, with the town of 30,000 people surrounded by the insurgents. A video posted online that appeared to show a crowd of officials and their families jostling to board a plane at the local airport provoked anger among those left behind. Some civilians are attempting to flee overland but most have nowhere to run, accepting the Taliban’s return as inevitable.
“The Taliban have cut off all gates out of the city, and there are checkpoints on all the roads, searching for government officials. Those who can have abandoned the city, by air of course,” one local resident, who gave his name as Abdul, said.
“Most districts in Badakhshan are falling without any fighting. Many believe that officials have done a secret deal with the Taliban. People are afraid of what comes next.”
Onslaught within hours
Ahmad Zaman, another Faizabad resident, said: “The situation is really bad. Everyone is in fear and panic. The Taliban are gaining control without fighting. The insurgents are sending messages to Afghan forces to surrender without fighting.”
The government of President Ghani has promised a counter-attack, and defence ministry officials told The Times that Afghan commandos had arrived to hold the town.
The Taliban onslaught came within hours of the last US troops vacating the massive military compound at Bagram airbase, a linchpin of the American war effort during 20 years of conflict. The empty base was partially looted before Afghan forces moved in.
As the Pentagon steps up the withdrawal of western forces, the speed of the Taliban advance seems to have surprised some commanders. The government still holds all of Afghanistan’s main towns and cities, but with rural districts throughout the country falling to the insurgents by the day, there are fears that urban areas will inevitably come under siege.
Families flee
The Taliban launched another offensive in the area around Kandahar at the weekend, capturing a key district in the southern province, a former bastion of the Islamist movement. After fierce fighting on Saturday night the militants overran the district of Panjwai, once home of Haibatullah Akhundzada, the Taliban’s supreme leader. The area lies close to the provincial capital and could provide a springboard for an assault on the city, which was the capital of the Taliban regime during the 1990s.
Thousands of Afghan civilians fled the fighting at the weekend, making for Kandahar or heading north towards Kabul. The Taliban reportedly plan to offer a peace terms to the Afghan government as soon as next month.
President Biden has set a symbolic deadline of September 11 for all American and NATO troops to leave Afghanistan, 20 years after the 9/11 attacks that triggered the US-led invasion.
The departure from Bagram last week suggested that the US withdrawal could be completed within days, and ahead of schedule, but it came amid reports that 1,000 NATO troops, most of them American, might yet remain in the country to protect diplomatic missions as well as Kabul’s airport.
However, Zabihullah Mujahid, the Taliban spokesman, told The Times that the pretext for leaving these troops behind was a violation of the agreement between the US and the insurgents, struck last year in Doha, Qatar. Any NATO forces still in Afghanistan after September 11 would be legitimate targets, he said. “According to the Doha agreement all troops should leave Afghanistan and if they find a lame excuse to remain for security purposes we will oppose it. We will not tolerate any foreign troops’ presence. We will act against them if they remain in Afghanistan after the withdrawal deadline.”
As their fighters sweep back across the country the insurgents have sought to allay fears of a return to the brutal regime of the 1990s, when television and music were banned and women were barred from work or study and forced to wear the burqa.
Public executions for those caught breaking the Taliban’s strict interpretation of Islamic law became routine. “Rumours are being published that [the Taliban] are imposing restrictions or even a complete ban on media, people and women in the newly liberated areas. We reject such propaganda,” Mujahid said in a statement at the weekend.
“All schools are fully open, the media is allowed to operate in a free and neutral manner within Islamic rules, clinics and health centres are able to work without any constraints. Civil servants, journalists can also live and perform their duties without any fear.”
Taliban welcome in some areas
The Taliban have been welcomed in some areas weary of government corruption, but reports have filtered through of girls’ schools being blown up in some districts seized by the insurgents. Contrary to Mujahid’s claims, the Taliban have been blamed for a wave of murders that has targeted lawyers, journalists, and professional working women. Scores of people have been shot dead or killed by bombs attached to their cars in recent months.
The Taliban deny responsibility but Afghan officials are convinced that the insurgents have begun a campaign to terrorise the middle class, which has taken tentative root since 2001. Tens of thousands of Afghans. including many who worked with NATO forces, have gone into hiding or are seeking to flee the country as a result.
The Times
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