16:43 ET, Jun 25 2021Updated: 16:46 ET, Jun 25 2021
THE Taliban have seized control of a THIRD of Afghanistan as they continue to accelerate their blitz offensive while the US continues to withdraw their forces.
The US has wasted nearly $1trillion on the "pointless" 20-year battle trying to stave off the terror group who are fighting to gain ultimate control over the war-torn country.
The Taliban now have control of a third of Afghanistan and are set to conquer more
Top US general says security in Afghanistan deteriorating
Source: AP
By KATHY GANNON
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The U.S.’s top general in Afghanistan on Tuesday gave a sobering assessment of the country’s deteriorating security situation as America winds down its so-called “forever war.”
Gen. Austin S. Miller said the rapid loss of districts around the country to the Taliban — several with significant strategic value — is worrisome. He also cautioned that the militias deployed to help the beleaguered national security forces could lead the country into civil war.
Miller told a small group of reporters in the Afghan capital that for now he has the weapons and the capability to aid Afghanistan’s National Defense and Security Forces.
“What I don’t want to do is speculate what that (support) looks like in the future,” he said.
Afghanistan: 'Most British troops have quietly withdrawn' following 20-year campaign
Wednesday 30 June 2021
The majority of British troops have quietly withdrawn from Afghanistan, with flag-lowering ceremonies marking the final stages of a nearly 20-year campaign, Sky News understands.
Boris Johnson is set to chair a National Security Council meeting on Monday to decide the future shape of the UK footprint in the country, amid mounting security concerns as the Afghan government loses territory to a resurgent Taliban and the threat of civil war looms.
British special forces could retain a presence, while a small number of regular troops may be required if the UK decides - as is likely, according to a Whitehall source - to keep an embassy open.
US hands Bagram Airfield to Afghans after nearly 20 years
Source: AP
By KATHY GANNON
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — After nearly 20 years, the U.S. military left Bagram Airfield, the epicenter of its war to oust the Taliban and hunt down the al-Qaida perpetrators of the 9/11 terrorist attacks on America, two U.S. officials said Friday.
The airfield was handed over to the Afghan National Security and Defense Force in its entirety, they said on condition they not be identified because they were not authorized to release the information to the media.
One of the officials also said the U.S. top commander in Afghanistan, Gen. Austin S. Miller, “still retains all the capabilities and authorities to protect the forces.”
Miller met Afghan President Ashraf Ghani Friday and according to a Dari-language tweet by the presidential palace the two discussed “continued U.S. assistance and cooperation with Afghanistan, particularly in supporting the defense and security forces.”
(BBC via MSN) More than 1,000 Afghan soldiers have fled to neighbouring Tajikistan after clashing with Taliban militants, officials have said.
The troops retreated over the border to "save their own lives", according to a statement by Tajikistan's border guard.
Violence has risen in Afghanistan, with the Taliban launching attacks and taking more territory in recent weeks.
The surge coincides with the end of Nato's 20-year military mission in the country.
The vast majority of remaining foreign forces in Afghanistan have been withdrawn ahead of a September deadline, and there are concerns that the Afghan military will collapse.
US left Afghan airfield at night, didn't tell new commander
Source: AP
By KATHY GANNON
BAGRAM, Afghanistan (AP) — The U.S. left Afghanistan’s Bagram Airfield after nearly 20 years by shutting off the electricity and slipping away in the night without notifying the base’s new Afghan commander, who discovered the Americans’ departure more than two hours after they left, Afghan military officials said.
Afghanistan’s army showed off the sprawling air base Monday, providing a rare first glimpse of what had been the epicenter of America’s war to unseat the Taliban and hunt down the al-Qaida perpetrators of the 9/11 attacks on America.
The U.S. announced Friday it had completely vacated its biggest airfield in the country in advance of a final withdrawal the Pentagon says will be completed by the end of August.
“We (heard) some rumor that the Americans had left Bagram ... and finally by seven o’clock in the morning, we understood that it was confirmed that they had already left Bagram,” Gen. Mir Asadullah Kohistani, Bagram’s new commander said.
House votes to evacuate more Afghan allies as US war ends
Source: AP
The House voted overwhelmingly Thursday to allow in thousands more of the Afghans who worked alongside Americans in the Afghanistan war, citing the urgency of protecting those on-the-ground allies from Taliban retaliation as the U.S. military withdrawal enters its final weeks.
Florida Republican and Vietnam war veteran Rep. Neal Dunn evoked the scenes of the U.S. military withdrawal from Vietnam, which left many Vietnamese who’d worked with American forces fearing — and sometimes meeting — death and detention.
“We cannot do this again. We must not do this again. We must bring back … all the people who were so important to us in combat,” Neal said, urging fellow lawmakers to vote for the bill. “Please do not abandon friends of America again.”
The House passed it 407-16, sending it to the Senate. The bill, by Rep. Jason Crow, a Colorado Democrat and former Army Ranger who fought in Afghanistan, allows 8,000 more visas for translators and others who worked with American troops and civilians in Afghanistan. It also eases some requirements for the visas.
US strikes Taliban and captured equipment in support of Afghan forces
Source: CNN
By Oren Liebermann,
(CNN)The US military carried out two strikes against the Taliban overnight in support of Afghan forces in the Kandahar province, multiple defense officials said, targeting captured equipment.
The military has retained the authority to carry out strikes in support of the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces (ANDSF) during the final stages of the withdrawal of US troops, but the pace of these strikes has decreased in recent weeks. According to a defense official, the US military has carried out approximately six or seven strikes in the past 30 days, mostly using drones to launch the strikes. Previously, the US launched strikes in support of Afghan forces on a more frequent basis, a different defense official said.
"I can say that in the last several days, we have acted through airstrikes to support the ANDSF, but I won't get into technical details of those strikes," Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said at a press briefing Thursday.
Three of the last four strikes have targeted captured equipment, one official said. This includes US equipment transferred to the ANDSF that the Taliban then captured as it advanced throughout the country.
To reach a peace deal, Taliban say Afghan president must go
Source: AP
By KATHY GANNON
ISLAMABAD (AP) — The Taliban say they don’t want to monopolize power, but they insist there won’t be peace in Afghanistan until there is a new negotiated government in Kabul and President Ashraf Ghani is removed.
In an interview with The Associated Press, Taliban spokesman, Suhail Shaheen, who is also a member of the group’s negotiating team, laid out the insurgents’ stance on what should come next in a country on the precipice.
The Taliban have swiftly captured territory in recent weeks, seized strategic border crossings and are threatening a number of provincial capitals, as the last U.S. and NATO soldiers leave Afghanistan. This week, the top U.S. military officer, Gen. Mark Milley, told a Pentagon press conference that the Taliban have “strategic momentum,” and he did not rule out a complete Taliban takeover. But he said it is not inevitable. “I don’t think the end game is yet written,” he said.
Memories of the Taliban’s last time in power some 20 years ago, when they enforced a harsh brand of Islam that denied girls an education and barred women from work, have stoked fears of their return among many. Afghans who can afford it are applying by the thousands for visas to leave Afghanistan, fearing a violent descent into chaos. The U.S.-NATO withdrawal is more than 95% complete and due to be finished by Aug. 31.
Key Afghan City in Danger of Falling to the Taliban
Source: NY Times
KABUL, Afghanistan — An important city in Afghanistan’s south was in danger of falling to the Taliban on Saturday as their fighters pushed toward its center despite concerted American and Afghan airstrikes in recent days.
Reports from Lashkar Gah, capital of Helmand, a province where the Taliban already controlled much of the territory before their recent offensive, were dire: People were fleeing their homes, a hospital in the city had been bombed, and government reinforcements were only now arriving after days of delays.
“We are just waiting for the Taliban to arrive — there is no expectation that the government will be able to protect the city any more,” said Mohammadullah Barak, a resident.
What comes next in Lashkar Gah is anything but certain — the city has been on the brink of a Taliban takeover off and on for more than a decade. But if the insurgent group seizes the city this time it will be the first provincial capital to fall to the Taliban since 2016.
Lashkar Gah, the besieged capital of Helmand Province, in May this year.Credit...Jim Huylebroek for The New York Times
US airstrikes pound Taliban positions as militants threaten key cities in Afghanistan
Source: CNN
By Nick Paton Walsh and Tim Lister,
(CNN)The United States has ramped up airstrikes against the Taliban in a bid to turn back the militants' advances on a number of key provincial capitals in Afghanistan, a senior Afghan security official said Monday.
Over the past 72 hours, US airstrikes have targeted Taliban positions around the cities of Herat, Kandahar and Lashkar Gah, the official said.
"They strike multiple times when the Taliban try to enter the city," the official said, adding that the three cities were considered "endangered" by Taliban advances.
American officials have recently confirmed that US airstrikes are active in Afghanistan again, yet declined to provide details of the targets.
Taliban take much of provincial capital in south Afghanistan
Source: AP
By TAMEEM AKHGAR and RAHIM FAIEZ
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The Taliban pressed ahead with their advances in southern Afghanistan on Tuesday, capturing nine out of 10 districts of the Helmand provincial capital, residents and officials said. Afghan government forces launched airstrikes, backed by the U.S., in a desperate effort to defend the city of Lashkar Gah.
The fall of Lashkar Gah would be a major turning point in the offensive the Taliban have waged over the past months as U.S. and NATO forces complete their pullout from the war-torn country. It would also be the first provincial capital captured by the Taliban in years.
Residents of the city, speaking to The Associated Press over the telephone, said the fighting has them trapped, hunkered down inside their homes and unable to step out for basic supplies. They said Taliban fighters were out openly in the streets, and that all but one Lashkar Gah district was under Taliban control.
Elite commando units were dispatched from Kabul to aid Afghan forces as the government held on to key government buildings, including the local police and army headquarters.
Attack targeting acting Afghan defense minister left 8 dead
Source: AP
By RAHIM FAIEZ
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A bombing attack that targeted Afghanistan’s acting defense minister killed at least eight people and wounded 20, authorities said Wednesday. The deputy minister was not hurt in the attack claimed by Taliban insurgents.
The blast went off late Tuesday in a heavily guarded upscale neighborhood of the capital of Kabul. It was followed by a gun battle that also left four militants dead, authorities said.
The casualty toll could rise, Interior Ministry spokesperson Mirwais Stanekzai said Wednesday.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid in a statement Wednesday claimed responsibility for the attack. It came as the insurgent group presses ahead with an offensive that is putting pressure on provincial capitals in the south and west of the country.
Lawmaker says Taliban enter north Afghan provincial capital
5 minutes ago
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Taliban fighters entered the capital of northern Afghanistan’s Jawzjan province Saturday, a provincial lawmaker said, after sweeping through nine of 10 districts in the province.
The government did not deny lawmaker Mohammad Karim Jawzjani’s claim that Taliban fighters had entered Sheberghan, but said the city had not fallen. If the city falls, it will be the second provincial capital in as many days to succumb to the Taliban. Several other of the country’s 34 provincial capitals are threatened.
On Friday, the Taliban took control of the southwestern Nimroz provincial capital of Zaranj, where the government says it is still battling insurgents inside the capital.
Sheberghan is particularly strategic because it is the stronghold of U.S-allied Uzbek warlord Rashid Dostum, whose militias are among those resurrected to aid the Afghan National Security and Defense Forces.
Afghanistan war: Taliban capture city of Kunduz
Source: BBC
The Taliban have captured the key northern Afghan city of Kunduz after fierce fighting with government forces.
A local official told the BBC all but the city's airport had fallen to the militant group.
Chaotic scenes have been reported inside Kunduz, with buildings and shops ablaze. The Taliban's flag has been seen raised in the city centre.
...
There are reports that another northern city, Sar-e-Pul, has also been captured, although this is yet to be independently confirmed.
The British foreign ministry warned of a high risk of terror attacks and "a worsening security situation" as the Taliban continued their offensive across Afghanistan.
The British government has told all UK nationals to leave Afghanistan immediately as fighting intensifies between Taliban militants and Afghan security forces.
The announcement came just hours after the Taliban ambushed and killed the director of Afghanistan's government media center in Kabul on Friday.
(Al Jazeera) The Taliban has captured two more cities in Afghanistan, taking the number of provincial capitals the group has seized since Friday to eight.
Farah city of the eponymous southwestern province and Pul-e-Khumri of the northern province of Baghlan both fell to the armed group on Tuesday. Local sources confirmed the capture of both provincial capitals to Al Jazeera.
“This afternoon the Taliban entered the city of Farah after briefly fighting with the security forces. They have captured the governor’s office and police headquarters,” Shahla Abubar, a member of Farah’s provincial council, told the AFP news agency on Tuesday.
The Taliban has captured the province’s central prison, according to parliamentarian Abdul Nasri Farahi.
Farah is now the second provincial city in the southwest of Afghanistan that the group has taken. On Friday, the Taliban captured neighbouring Nimruz province.
Taliban fighters inside the city of Farah, capital of Farah province southwest of Kabul. Mohammad Asif Khan/AP Photo
Biden says he does not regret Afghanistan withdrawal
Source: The Hill
President Biden on Tuesday said he does not regret his decision to pull U.S. forces out of Afghanistan amid reports of rising civilian casualties as the Taliban make gains in the country.
"We spent over $1 trillion over 20 years. We trained and equipped with modern equipment over 300,000 Afghan forces," Biden said at a news conference. "And Afghan leaders have to come together. We lost thousands, we lost to death and injury, thousands of American personnel. They’ve got to fight for themselves, fight for their nation."
"But they’ve got to want to fight," Biden added.
"I think they're beginning to realize they’ve got to come together politically at the top," the president said. "But we’re going to continue to keep our commitment. But I do not regret my decision."
