Afghanistan Times
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KABUL: The first group of US troops has arrived in Kabul to help evacuate thousands of American diplomats and staff daily from Kabul.
Official sources said on Saturday that on a special flight from Herat to Kabul this morning, government officials who had fallen to the Taliban were transferred to the capital.
An Afghan government official said Friday night that Herat provincial officials were flown to Kabul on a special flight at 1:20 a.m.
Mohammad Ismail Khan, one of Afghanistan’s jihadi commanders, was captured by the Taliban on Friday, but today an official said he had not flown this morning.
The arrival of the first US troops in Kabul comes at a time when the city of Pol-e Alam, the capital of Logar province, near Kabul, has fallen to the Taliban – a city that is only 17 km away from Kabul.
The Pentagon has said it will send 3,000 troops to Kabul by the end of the week.
The US embassy in Afghanistan has reportedly told its staff to be prepared to destroy sensitive documents and equipment.
White House spokesman John Kirby said Kabul, the capital, did not appear to be under immediate threat from the Taliban, but that the Taliban were trying to lay siege to the city.
He said the United States was concerned about the Taliban’s progress.
US President Joe Biden also met with senior US security officials and said he still believed the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan was the right decision. But with the Taliban advancing in recent days, he has faced criticism.
UN concern over the situation in Afghanistan
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also expressed concern about the situation in Afghanistan, saying that the situation was getting out of control and that the consequences would be devastating for civilians.
According to him, clashes in urban areas due to high population density will mean that citizens will have to pay a lot of money.
Earlier, the United Nations said that civilian casualties in Afghanistan had increased since the withdrawal of foreign troops from May.
The United Nations has also called on Afghanistan’s neighbors to keep their borders open.
The World Food Program has warned that food shortages in Afghanistan have reached a critical stage. World Food Program spokesman Thomson Fairy said the current situation in Afghanistan showed all signs of a humanitarian catastrophe.
The situation of Afghan refugees has also been described as worrying in recent days, with large numbers of war refugees taking refuge in Kabul and living in parks, streets and military spaces.
According to the charity Save the Children, about 72,000 children are among the displaced who have taken refuge in the capital in recent days.
Nilab Mobarez, director general of the Afghan Red Crescent, told the BBC that the number of displaced people was increasing every day. According to him, the situation of children and pregnant women is the most worrying.
The Taliban also issued a statement urging civilian personnel to continue their operations in areas under the group’s control.
According to this announcement, there are still concerns about the situation among the people, especially women. The female employees said they could not leave the house due to fear.
Meanwhile, the Afghan University Professors’ Union has called on the warring parties not to destroy educational facilities during the conflict and not to disrupt the education process.
