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US-led forces are withdrawing with great glee after almost 20 years of counter-productive war against insurgency, with a ruling rationale that Afghanistan won’t become a safe haven for terrorists afterwards. But their departure – either whirlwind or snail-paced – will only spell disaster, casting Afghanistan back to the grip of troglodytic warmongering Taliban, or stoke the flames of civil war. America’s falsehood is ever bound to vanish away
AT News
KABUL: The US military said Monday that withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan could slow down amid an unprecedented surge in the Taliban battlefield gains across Afghanistan.
Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said the U.S. could conditionally change the speed of its withdrawal, but insisted that US President Joe Biden’s deadline of a full pullout by September remains in place.
Pentagon’s remarks come as Afghanistan is embroiled in a searing conflict, with the insurgents closing in on major strategic hubs. At least ten districts in northern Afghanistan have been overrun by the Taliban and recaptured by Afghanistan armed forces over past days. Over 40 districts have fallen since May when the withdrawal of foreign forces began.
“The situation in Afghanistan changes as the Taliban continue to conduct these attacks and to raid district centers as well as the violence, which is still too high,” he told reporters, adding that “If there needs to be changes made to the pace, or to the scope and scale of the retrograde, on any given day or in any given week, we want to maintain the flexibility to do that”.
The Taliban also seized control of Shir Khan Port in Kunduz city on Tuesday as they continue to expand their footprint. They also rule the roost in most districts in Sar-e-Pul, Faryab, Jawzjan, Takhar and Kunduz provinces.
Talks between Afghanistan government and the insurgents have also foundered to end the fighting and the Taliban have been increasingly leveraging the withdrawing foreign troops to consolidate power through fighting and bellicosity rather than negotiating a peace political settlement.
As the situation worsens, President Ghani and the head of peace council Abdullah Abdullah will meet U.S. President Joe Biden to discuss America’s financial and humanitarian aid to support the Afghan people, including Afghan women, girls and minorities. But the militant advances have ratcheted up the fear that Afghanistan will be once again a hub of extremist totalitarian rule of the troglodytic Taliban if they regain power and all gains of the past two decades will be reversed.
