US Troops Begin Arriving for Evacuation from Afghanistan as Taliban Closer to Kabul | Afghanistan

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US troops have started arriving in Afghanistan to help evacuate thousands of people including embassy staff, Afghans and their families who worked for them as a massive Taliban offensive draws closer and closer. from Kabul.

Diplomats and nationals from a multitude of Western countries are scrambling to leave the capital, with insurgent fighters now encamped just 50 km (30 miles) after a campaign that has seen provincial capitals fall rapidly.

On Saturday, the Taliban launched a multi-front assault on Mazar-i-Sharif, a large city in northern Afghanistan defended by powerful former warlords, according to Munir Ahmad Farhad, spokesman for the provincial governor of the Balkh province. There was no word on the victims.

President Ashraf Ghani visited the city on Wednesday to rally his defenses, meeting with several commanders of militia allied to the government.

In Kabul, U.S. Embassy staff were ordered to begin shredding and burning sensitive material, as units from a planned redeployment of 3,000 U.S. troops began arriving to secure the airport and supervise evacuations. Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said elements of one battalion were now in Kabul, the vanguard of three naval and army battalions that the United States was sending to the city.

Kirby said most of the troops would be in place by Sunday and will be able to move thousands of people a day out of Afghanistan. Capacity won’t be an issue, he said.

The United States is also moving 4,500 to 5,000 additional troops to bases in Gulf countries Qatar and Kuwait, including 1,000 in Qatar to speed up visa processing for Afghan translators and others who fear. retaliation from the Taliban for their past work with Americans, and members of their families.

Kirby said some of those troops will be a standby reserve force in case we need even more than the 3,000 for Kabul.

Helicopters flew back and forth between Kabul Airport and the sprawling U.S. diplomatic complex in the heavily fortified Green Zone 46 years after the Americans were airlifted out of Saigon, marking the end of the Vietnam War.

The UK has said around 600 troops will be deployed in the short term to support the departure of UK nationals. Earlier on Friday, many countries, including Spain, Denmark, Norway and the Netherlands, announced the withdrawal of staff from their respective embassies.

Canada said the first planes loaded with asylum seekers had already landed in Toronto on Friday, as part of its pledge to welcome up to 20,000 Afghan refugees, including women leaders and government officials.

The insurgents took control of four other provincial capitals on Friday, after seizing Kandahar and Herat, the second and third largest cities on Thursday. Afghan government forces are in disarray, and there are reports that the vice president, Amrullah Saleh, has fled.

US military intelligence suggests Kabul could come under pressure within 30 days. If trends continue, the Taliban will likely take full control of the country in months, he says. Refugees from relentless insurgents from offensives elsewhere flooded the capital.

The refugees that Canada will welcome include particularly vulnerable people still in the country or those who have already fled to neighboring states. They include human rights activists, persecuted minorities and journalists.

Foreign Minister Marc Garneau said Canada owes the Afghans a debt of gratitude and that we will continue our efforts to bring them to safety. Immigration Minister Marco Mendicino said: The situation in Afghanistan is heartbreaking and Canada will not stand idly by.

Another plane arrived today, bringing more Afghans to safety. It’s a great feeling to see them land here and breathe a sigh of relief as they start their new life. We will continue to work as hard as possible to get as many Afghans to safety as possible. pic.twitter.com/gHELPRLjxi

– Marco Mendicino (@marcomendicino) August 13, 2021

Officials said Canadian special forces were part of an emergency plan to airlift embassy staff out of Kabul, but no details were provided due to the sensitive nature of the security operation.

For the people of Kabul and the tens of thousands who have taken refuge there in recent weeks, the mood was one of confusion and fear of what lies ahead. We don’t know what’s going on, resident Khairddin Logari told Agence France-Presse.

UN Secretary-General Antnio Guterres said earlier he was deeply troubled by accounts of abuse of women in areas seized by the Taliban, which has imposed ultra-austere Islam on Afghanistan. during their reign from 1996-2001.

It is particularly horrifying and heartbreaking to see reports of the hard-won rights of Afghan girls and women, Guterres said.

The scale and speed of the Taliban’s advance shocked Afghans and the US-led alliance that poured billions into the country after toppling the Taliban in the 9/11 attacks ago almost 20 years.

Despite the swift evacuation efforts, the Biden administration said a full Taliban takeover was not inevitable.

Kabul is not currently in an environment of imminent threat, Kirby said on Friday, while acknowledging that Taliban fighters were trying to isolate the city.

The Taliban offensive has gathered pace in recent days, with the capture of Herat in the north and, hours later, the capture of Kandahar, the group’s spiritual heart in the south.

Abdul Nafi, a resident of Kandahar, told AFP that the city was calm after government forces abandoned it for the sanctuary of military installations outside, where they were negotiating the terms of surrender. I went out this morning, saw white Taliban flags in most of the city squares, he said. I thought it might be the first day of Eid.

Pro-Taliban social media accounts bragged about the vast spoils of war captured by insurgents, posting photos of armored vehicles, heavy weapons and even a drone seized by their fighters from abandoned military bases.

In Herat, the Taliban captured longtime strongman Ismail Khan, who helped lead the defense of the provincial capital with his militia fighters.

Pul-e-Alam, capital of Loghar province, was the last city to fall on Friday, putting the Taliban within striking distance of Kabul.

With Agence France-Presse

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