Afghanistan seems to be in full control of the Taliban now. The day by day increasing hold by the Taliban shows its strength.
The Taliban is in control of Afghanistan.
The country president has fled to the UAE.
On 18th August, the US has expressed surprise about the collapse of the Afghan army to the Taliban. It happened just in 11 days.
Let us see how the 20 years of war is unfolded so quickly:
Afghanistan is a country with a 48 million population and shares its lengthy borders with Iran, Pakistan.
In 2001, the US removed the Taliban from power as a retaliation to the 9/11 attacks. The US blamed Afghanistan for sheltering the terrorist group Al-Qaida.
Immediately an elected government followed. But the Taliban did not go away. Years of fighting followed, tens and thousands of Afghan troops, militants, and civilians died in the war between the US troops and the Taliban.
In November 2020, in direct talks with the US, the Taliban has assured the Trump administration about Afghanistan’s future, a deal was done. Also, the Taliban agreed that they would not attack the US troops anymore. In response, the US committed to leave.
Also, Read | Taliban Claim 85% Of Control Over Afghanistan
And in April 2021 the US new president Joe Bide recommitted to that withdrawal. Although all the NATO allies expressed concern about the safety and the future of Afghanistan, the US stood on its word of calling its troops back home.
By July the symbolic moment has reached. On July the 5th at midnight the American troops left the background for good. But after 3 days later, on the 8th of July, the US president was asked to assess the risk after the US troops leaving Afghanistan. Joe Biden in a press conference confidently stated that the Afghan troops are strong enough to tackle the Taliban. He said that there are about 300,000 Afghan troops with well-equipped weapons, and the Taliban’s are just 75,000 count.
But the present situation raises the question about the real strength of the Afghan military. In the following weeks of July, the US troops continued their withdrawal and the Taliban’s continued to intensify its operations in Afghanistan.
By the beginning of August, the Talibans took control of many territories that were denied over for 20 years. On the 5th of August, the Afghan government controlled 131 territories and the Taliban controlled 104 territories. On the 6th of August, another symbolic and strategic moment has come. The Taliban took control of its first provisional capital near Iran’s border. And Afghan made its plea at the UN to interfere and stop this trend of the Taliban. Between 7and 10th of August, the Taliban took control of 8 more provisional control almost without any resistance from the Afghan troops.
The Taliban insisted on Islamic rule in the country and nothing alternate is acceptable. Though the UN was speaking about the Human Rights violation in Afghanistan, no impact can be expected in near future.
On the 10th of August, Joe Biden has reassured that the situation in Afghanistan is the responsibility of the local government. He also said that there are no regrets about his decision. On the same day, the US intelligence agency has warned that the Afghan capital may collapse sooner than expected and just within 90 days the Taliban could take control of the country.
By the 14th of August, the Talibans took the second-largest city, Kandahar. Kandahar is the political and economic center of Afghanistan. Noticeably, the Taliban’s birthplace is Kandahar. At the same time, Embassys have started to evacuate. Ashraf Ghani, the ousted president of Afghanistan addressed the nation. He said that the country is in serious trouble.
The civilians too started leaving the country. The US troops assisted the leaving civilians for a safe passage to the airports.
On the 15th of August, the Talibans entered Kabul without any resistance. The Taliban fighters posted pictures of entering the Presidential palace in Kabul and sitting in the Presidents office.
Now, after taking control of the capital city, the issue was about the Airports. Whether the passengers can have a safe exit or not. On the 16th of August, the Talibans gave a press conference. The Taliban spokesperson assured the International community and the United Nation that they will not be allowing the third party to use their land against anybody.
Keeping aside whatever the Rights and Wrongs of the withdrawal, the Afghanistan people have reached a point where the Taliban was working to form a government and high-level meetings were happening in Kabul related to the transfer of power.
On 18 of August the ousted President, Ghani posted a video on Facebook that he is in talks with the Talibans and he would soon return to Kabul from the UAE. But the US has stated it no longer considers Ghani as a prominent personality in Afghanistan.
On the other hand, China has decided to adopt a friendly policy towards the Taliban-forming government. Chinese foreign spokesperson Wang has offered steps to fill the financial vacuum by announcing its helping hand. This would be a major relief for the Taliban as the US has blocked $9.4 billion International reserves for Afghanistan, In the past 20 years, the US has poured over $1 Trillion into Afghanistan. Also, $400 million emergency reserves from the International Monitory Funds (IMF) were suspended.
Taliban has appointed a bank chief as the prices rise and the cash runs out.
A major concern for India is that Pakistan has started relocating its terrorist camps active against India to the eastern and southern parts of the Taliban take over Afghanistan.