Status: 13.08.2021 02:25 a.m.
The Taliban have continued their conquest in Afghanistan and captured Kandahar, the country’s second largest city. The US and UK are sending troops to protect the withdrawal of diplomatic personnel.
The radical Islamic Taliban claimed to have taken the second largest city of Kandahar during their advance into Afghanistan. “Kandahar has been completely conquered,” said a Taliban spokesman on the online service Twitter. “The mujahideen have reached Martyrs’ Square in the city.”
A local resident told AFP news agency that the Afghan army had apparently withdrawn. Numerous soldiers went to a military facility outside the city.
On Thursday, the third largest Afghan city, Herat, fell into the hands of the Islamists. In addition, the Taliban advanced on the capital Kabul and captured the provincial capital Ghazni, 150 kilometers southwest of Kabul. The government forces have now lost control of most of the north and west of Afghanistan. In addition to Kabul, the Afghan government only controls a handful of areas and besieged cities in many places.
US sends 3,000 additional soldiers
The USA had previously announced that it would reduce its embassy staff to a minimum in the coming weeks in view of the advance of the Taliban. In addition, 3,000 additional soldiers are to be relocated to Kabul Airport to support the orderly withdrawal of some of the personnel, said the US State and Defense Department.
Jonas Wixforth, ARD Washington, on other US troops in Afghanistan
night magazine 12:35 a.m., 13.8.2021
“It is not an evacuation. It is not a complete withdrawal,” said State Department spokesman Ned Price. He did not provide any information on how many people will leave the embassy. One will limit oneself to a “diplomatic core presence” on site. The Taliban had made it very clear that they were not out to attack diplomatic institutions, Price said. But one will not rely on the words of a group like the Taliban. For this reason, “prudent precautionary measures” are now being taken.
Great Britain is also sending soldiers
Previously, Price had announced that the US wanted to get its former local workers in Afghanistan out of the country faster than before. For interpreters and other Afghan employees who would have to fear reprisals if the Taliban came to power, there should be daily flights to take them out of the country in the future.
Great Britain also wants to get its compatriots and Afghan interpreters out of the country quickly. To make this possible, 600 soldiers will be sent to Afghanistan, said British Defense Minister Ben Wallace. According to the BBC, there are an estimated 4,000 British people left in Afghanistan.
Thousands of people are fleeing the Taliban
Oliver Mayer, ARD New Delhi, daily topics 10:15 p.m., August 12, 2021
US troop withdrawal by the end of August
The US military actually wants to leave the country by the end of August. This is still the plan, stressed the spokesman for the US Department of Defense, John Kirby. Only a few hundred soldiers are supposed to stay behind after the withdrawal – mainly to protect the US embassy. In addition, there should be a fairly small US presence at the airport.
US President Joe Biden ordered the withdrawal in the spring. At that time, around 2,500 US soldiers were still in the country. By the beginning of the week, however, the withdrawal was more than 95 percent complete, as the US military had declared.
Taliban capture third largest city
Even before the conquest of Kandahar, the Taliban had continued their conquest in Afghanistan. Apparently they also took the third largest city in the country: The most important government institutions of Herat in the west of the country are in the hands of the Islamists, confirmed three local officials of the news agency dpa. According to information from the AFP news agency, the extremists took, among other things, the police headquarters and hoisted their flag on the roof.
Only yesterday morning the strategically important city of Ghazni in the southeast fell. The fall of the historic city of Herat, with an estimated 600,000 inhabitants, was preceded by weeks of attacks. The Taliban were initially kept in check by the security forces and militias of the local politician and former warlord Ismail Chan, and in some cases were also pushed back.
Prisoners released in conquered cities
Provincial councils had reported increasing fighting in Herat since yesterday afternoon. The Taliban had advanced into the city from the east and reached the governor’s seat up to 200 meters. Ismail Chan’s militias had been busy repelling an attack by the Islamists in the west of the city. They have also advanced from the north, said another provincial council.
In the evening, the governor’s palace, police headquarters and prison were finally under the control of the Taliban. As in other cities they had conquered, the Islamists released the prisoners.
Kabul could fall in 30 days
With Herat, 11 of the 34 provincial capitals fell to the Islamists in less than a week. Most of it is in the north of the country.
In view of the rapid conquest by the Taliban, US secret services expect, according to the Washington Post, that the capital Kabul could fall into the hands of the Islamists in 30 to 90 days. US President Joe Biden defended the withdrawal of the US military on Tuesday. The Afghans now have to “fight for their own state,” he said in the White House.