Status: 08/15/2021 05:05
In Afghanistan, the Taliban conquered Jalalabad, the penultimate city, without a fight. There is great fear of the Islamists in the country – many people are fleeing. US President Biden threatened the Taliban.
The advance of the Taliban in Afghanistan continues: seemingly without resistance, the security forces are leaving the country to the Islamists. After the fall of Mazar-i-Sharif, the Taliban now also control Jalalabad in the east. The city was surrendered without resistance. “There are currently no fighting because the governor has surrendered to the Taliban,” said an Afghan official told the Reuters news agency. This was the only way to save civilians’ lives. “We woke up this morning with lots of white flags for the Taliban across the city,” said one resident. This means that only the capital, Kabul, is in the hands of the government.
The rapid advance of the Taliban will pose a threat to international diplomats and the last US soldiers in the country. US President Joe Biden threatened the Islamists with “a swift and strong military reaction” if they endangered US personnel in Afghanistan.
He also sent more soldiers into the country: There were around 1,000 soldiers from the airborne division of the so-called 82nd Airborne from Fort Bragg, according to a defense officer. Among other things, they are supposed to help evacuate the embassy staff from Kabul. This means that around 5,000 US soldiers are involved in securing the airport in Kabul and evacuating the embassy staff and Afghan aid workers. Biden said:
We are working to evacuate thousands of people who have supported our cause and their families.
Romney’s criticism of the US trigger
Biden again defended the withdrawal of US troops: “Another year or five more years of US military presence would have made no difference if the Afghan military cannot or does not want to hold its own country.” An endless American presence in the middle of a civil war in another country was not acceptable to him.
The Republican US Senator Mitt Romney sees it differently. He criticized the troop withdrawal from Afghanistan with clear words: “I understand those who think that we should leave Afghanistan, but I disagree with them,” he wrote on Twitter. The withdrawal was “an invaluable blow to the credibility, reliability and honor of our nation,” Romney said.
Former local forces of the German armed forces are hoping for a possible departure in “Safe Houses”
Oliver Mayer, ARD New Delhi, daily topics 11:35 p.m., 14.8.2021
What options does Ghani have?
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken telephoned Afghan President Ashraf Ghani. They had discussed the urgency of the ongoing diplomatic and political efforts to contain the violence, said the US State Department. Blinken emphasized the “continued support for the Afghan people”.
But what power does Ghani still have? Observers expected his resignation when he addressed the people on Saturday. But there was no question of that: Instead, Ghani spoke of “serious steps” to mobilize the army again. This last surrendered without a fight, soldiers had fled from the Taliban. A little later, after Ghani’s meeting with political leaders, the presidential palace announced that it had agreed to set up a negotiating team for the peace talks with the Taliban. These have been running since September, but without any significant progress.
According to Kabul expert Sajed Naser Mosawi, Ghani seems to be running out of options: The message did not sound like the president was ready to “fight to the end,” he said. Rather, he has the impression that Ghani is trying to achieve “some kind of agreement”. He might even be ready to surrender.
Stefan Recker, Caritas International Afghanistan, on the situation in the country
Topics of the day 11:35 p.m., 8/14/2021
Tense mood in Kabul
Since the US and NATO troops began to withdraw in May, the Islamists have made massive territorial gains. They now control 22 of the 34 provincial capitals. They are now only a few kilometers from the capital, Kabul. Heavy fighting has been reported from the vicinity of the metropolis. Apparently the Taliban want to encircle the capital, as they have done with other cities before.
More and more refugees are reaching the capital. According to Stefan Recker from Caritas Internation Afghanistan, helpers assume around 20,000 people who have arrived in Kabul in the past few days. He said that in the daily topic interview. They would be housed in mosques and schools. Sometimes people also lived in parks. The mood in the city is very tense. Long queues formed in front of banks, and some branches apparently ran out of cash.
Anyone who can somehow flees Kabul. At the airport, desperate people try to somehow get a ticket for a flight – no matter where, just get out.
US increases troops for protection in Afghanistan to 5,000
Arthur Landwehr, ARD Washington, August 15, 2021 12:26 am