Afghan President Ashraf Ghani said Saturday the remobilization of the country’s armed forces was a “top priority,” as Taliban fighters inched closer to the capital after routing the country’s defenses over the past week.”In the current situation, the remobilization of our security and defense forces is our top priority, and serious steps are being taken in this regard,” he said in a televised speech.He gave no hint he would resign or take responsibility for the current situation but said “consultations” were taking place to try and end the war.”As a historic mission, I will not let the imposed war on people cause more deaths,” he said, appearing somber and sitting before an Afghan flag.”Therefore, I have started extensive consultations inside the government with the elders, political leaders, representatives of people, and international partners on achieving a reasonable and certain political solution in which the peace and stability of the people of Afghanistan are envisaged.”With the country’s second and third-largest cities having fallen into Taliban hands, Kabul has effectively become a besieged last stand for government forces who have offered little or no resistance elsewhere.But Ghani praised the forces “that have defended the nation courageously and showed strong determination.”
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The Taliban’s advance in Afghanistan moved closer to Kabul with the seizure of Ghazni, a city about 150 kilometers from the capital. Here is the latest:Aug. 13 – Abdullah Abdullah returned Friday from Doha, Qatar, with a proposal for a political deal, rumored to involve a cease-fire, between President Ashraf Ghani and the Taliban, according to a former Ghani spokesperson. Abdullah, the head of Afghanistan’s High Council for National Reconciliation, is to return to Doha by Saturday to discuss Ghani’s decision with the Taliban.Aug. 13 – Canada announced it is accepting 20,000 Afghan refugees, with the first planeload arriving in Toronto Friday, according to Agence France-Presse.Aug. 13 – NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said NATO allies met in the North Atlantic Council to discuss the situation in Afghanistan. In a statement, he said that “NATO will maintain our diplomatic presence in Kabul and continue to adjust as necessary” and that NATO’s “aim remains to support the Afghan government & security forces as much as possible.”Aug. 12 – U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin spoke by phone with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani to inform him the U.S. “is reducing our civilian footprint in Kabul in light of the evolving security situation and will accelerate the tempo of Special Immigration Visa flights.” A State Department readout said Blinken and Austin emphasized that the U.S. “remains invested in the security and stability of Afghanistan in the face of violence by the Taliban.”Aug. 12 – The U.S. announced the deployment of 3,000 troops to Kabul to help secure the U.S. Embassy and facilitate the evacuation of U.S. civilians and diplomatic personnel out of Afghanistan.Aug. 12 – U.S. announced that about 3,500 to 4,000 troops with the U.S. Army’s 82nd Airborne Division are being sent to U.S. bases in Kuwait, where they will be on standby should conditions in Afghanistan deteriorate more quickly.Aug. 12 – Britain on Thursday urged its citizens to “leave Afghanistan immediately.” British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace later announced he was sending about 600 troops “to support the diplomatic presence in Kabul, assist British nationals to leave the country and support the relocation of former Afghan staff.”The following is a compilation of the provincial capitals the Taliban has captured or is threatening to seize. There are 34 provincial capitals in the country:Provincial capitals contested as of Aug. 13:Farah: Capital of the western province of Farah.Captured provincial capitals:Aug. 13 – Qalat, capital of the southern province of Zabul.Aug. 13 – Pol-e-Alam, the capital of Logar province and the hometown of President Ghani.Aug. 13 – Firuzkoh, the capital of central Ghor province.Aug. 13 – Tarinkot: The capital of southern Uruzgan province.Aug. 13 – Lashkar Gah: The capital of Helmand province in the south.Aug. 12 – Kandahar: Afghanistan’s second-largest city and the capital of Kandahar province in the south.Aug. 12 – Herat: Taliban captured Afghanistan’s third-largest city and capital of the province of the same name after two weeks of fighting.Aug. 12 – Qala-e-Naw: The Taliban said in a formal statement that they had captured the capital of northwestern Badghis province.Aug. 12 – Ghazni: A high-ranking security officer said the Taliban had seized the city, which is the capital of the province of the same name.Aug. 11 – Faizabad: A provincial council member said the Islamic group had taken control of the capital of the northeastern province of Badakhshan.Aug. 10 – Pul-i-Khumri: Residents said the capital of the central province of Baghlan had fallen to the Taliban.Aug. 9 – Aybak: Taliban fighters overrun the capital of the northern province of Samangan.Aug. 8 – Taloqan: The northern capital of the Takhar province is seized by the Taliban.Aug. 8 – Kunduz: The Taliban take control of the northern strategic city that serves as the entryway to the northern provinces and Central Asia and is the capital of Kunduz province.Aug. 8 – Sar-e Pul: Taliban take control of the capital of the province of the same name.Aug. 7 – Sheberghan: The Taliban say they have taken control of the northern province of Jawzjan.Aug. 6 – Zaranj: The Taliban seize control of the city in Nimroz province in the south, the first provincial capital to fall after they escalated attacks on Afghan forces in May.Some information for this report came from Reuters and the Associated Press. 
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The Taliban’s sudden surge across much of Afghanistan, resulting in the capture of about half of the country’s provincial capitals, may have stunned some officials and international observers, but it has been driven in part by extensive fundraising that has given the insurgent group access to millions, and perhaps billions, of dollars.Intelligence agencies say while it is impossible to accurately gauge exactly how much money the Taliban have been able to raise, a newfound focus on financial independence appears to be paying off, with the group generating $300 million to $1.6 billion a year.According to a June 2021 U.N. report based on member-state intelligence, most of the money comes from criminal activity such as opium production, drug trafficking, extortion and kidnapping for ransom. One intelligence agency said drug trafficking alone may have earned the Taliban $460 million.The U.N. report said Taliban leaders have also generated additional money from natural resources in areas under their control, including as much as $464 million last year from mining operations.Taliban leaders have also benefited greatly from donations, including from what the U.N. describes as a “network of nongovernmental charitable foundations” and from wealthy supporters.Separately, U.S. officials have said for years the Taliban have gotten money, weapons and training from Russia.”We talk about #Afghanistan. We talk about how we don’t want Russia engaged in this,” @SecPompeo about what he tells #Russia about Russian money, arms flowing to #Taliban— Jeff Seldin (@jseldin) July 1, 2020US military officials also point out #Russia has been supplying #Taliban w/weapons”We continue to get reports of this assistance” outgoing @USFOR_A Cmdr @Commander_RS Gen John Nicholson told reporters at a briefing w/#SecDef Jim Mattis back in April 2017— Jeff Seldin (@jseldin) August 24, 2018In an email to VOA in August 2018, General John Nicholson, then commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, went as far as to accuse Moscow of using such support “to undercut our military gains and years of military progress in Afghanistan, and make partners question Afghanistan’s stability.”US General: Russia Trying to ‘Undercut’ Progress in Afghanistan

        Russia is not giving up on efforts to destabilize Afghanistan and drive divisions between the United States and its coalition partners, according to the outgoing commander of U.S. forces in the country.The commander of U.S. 

Other analysts say the Taliban also continue to get money from Pakistan and, to a lesser degree, Iran.However, while the Taliban appear to have raised enough money to take Afghanistan by force, there are some doubts they have sufficient funding to govern Afghanistan on their own.According to the most recent data from the World Bank, the Afghan government spent $11 billion in 2018, of which 80% came from foreign aid.”It appears that even the Taliban understand Afghanistan’s dire need for foreign assistance,” said John Sopko, U.S. Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, during an event this past March.Foreign aid may be “the primary lever left” for US, other donors to influence #Afghanistan”It appears that even the #Taliban understand Afghanistan’s dire need for foreign assistance” per @SIGARHQ’s Sopko— Jeff Seldin (@jseldin) March 10, 2021Earlier this month, U.S. Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad told the virtual Aspen Security Forum that the U.S. still retained some leverage over the Taliban because of the understanding that foreign aid will be critical going forward.”They say they don’t want to be a pariah state,” Khalilzad said. “They want to receive assistance.”US “leverage” w/#Taliban is that “they say they don’t want to be a pariah state” per @US4AfghanPeace “They want to receive assistance””Are they going to do what it takes for that normalcy to take place? That’s where the leverage comes”— Jeff Seldin (@jseldin) August 3, 2021Analysts, such as Bill Roggio at the Washington-based Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, are skeptical.”The Taliban doesn’t care about international aid, international legitimacy,” he told VOA. “Its primary goal is to rule.”Additionally, some former U.S. officials caution that should the Taliban take all of Afghanistan by force, it may be some time before they feel any sort of financial pinch.”Like other militant groups that take over territory, when that happens, they get access to central banks’ vaults, government accounts and real taxation opportunities,” Matthew Levitt, director of the counterterrorism program at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and a former U.S. Treasury Department official, told VOA.As for potentially losing out on billions of dollars in foreign aid, Levitt said the Taliban could survive that.The country as a whole, “not so much,” he added. “But that’s not their [the Taliban’s] goal post.”
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The U.N. agency for children (UNICEF) says it is “shocked” by the “grave violations against children” in Afghanistan and is calling for an end to the fighting. VOA’s Rahim Gul Sarwan and Samsama Sirat has the story, narrated by Roshan Noorzai. But first a warning: Viewers may find some images in this report disturbing.  Camera: Rahim Gul Sarwan and Samsama Sirat 
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U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called on the Taliban Friday to immediately halt their military offensive and negotiate in good faith for the sake of Afghanistan and its people.“The message from the international community to those on the warpath must be clear: Seizing power through military force is a losing proposition,” Guterres told reporters. “That can only lead to prolonged civil war or to the complete isolation of Afghanistan.”The U.N. chief said the country is “spinning out of control” as the Taliban have seized about half of Afghanistan’s 34 provincial capitals and have their sights on the capital, Kabul.“Continued urban conflict will mean continued carnage – with civilians paying the highest price,” he warned, calling on all parties to do more to protect civilians.The United Nations says more than 1,000 civilians have been killed or injured in the past month in indiscriminate attacks, especially in Helmand, Kandahar and Herat provinces. Nearly a quarter of a million others have been displaced by the fighting.“Only an Afghan-led negotiated political settlement can ensure peace,” Guterres said, urging substantive discussions between representatives of the Taliban and the government. Talks between the two sides have been taking place in Doha, Qatar.Human rights“I am also deeply disturbed by early indications that the Taliban are imposing severe restrictions on human rights in the areas under their control, particularly targeting women and journalists,” he said. “It is particularly horrifying and heartbreaking to see reports of the hard-won rights of Afghan girls and women being ripped away from them.”Earlier Friday, Guterres’ spokesperson said that the United Nations had no plans to leave the country despite the rapidly deteriorating security situation.”There is no evacuation of U.N. staff going on,” Stephane Dujarric told reporters.He said the organization was evaluating the security situation “literally on an hour-by-hour basis,” and assessing where it might be able to lighten its footprint, but that aid continued to be delivered to a number of places, including Kabul.The United Nations has about 3,000 national staff and 300 international staff working in the country. Another 420 international staff have been working remotely outside the country because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
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In early July, as Taliban insurgents were seizing territory from government forces across Afghanistan, fighters from the group walked into the offices of Azizi Bank in the southern city of Kandahar and ordered nine women working there to leave.The gunmen escorted them to their homes and told them not to return to their jobs. Instead, they explained that male relatives could take their place, according to three of the women involved and the bank’s manager.”It’s really strange to not be allowed to get to work, but now this is what it is,” Noor Khatera, a 43-year-old woman who had worked in the accounts department of the bank told Reuters.”I taught myself English and even learned how to operate a computer, but now I will have to look for a place where I can just work with more women around.”The incident is an early sign that some of the rights won by Afghan women over the 20 years since the hardline Islamist militant movement was toppled could be reversed if it returns to power.The Taliban, who ruled Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001, have overrun many of Afghanistan’s biggest cities in recent days and are closing in on the capital Kabul.Under the group’s strict interpretation of Islamic law, women could not work, girls were not allowed to attend school and women had to cover their face and be accompanied by a male relative if they wanted to venture out of their homes.Women who broke the rules sometimes suffered humiliation and public beatings by the Taliban’s religious police.During hitherto fruitless talks over a political settlement in recent years, Taliban leaders made assurances to the West that women would enjoy equal rights in accordance with what was granted by Islam, including the ability to work and be educated.’The world should help us’Two days after the episode at Azizi Bank, a similar scene played out at a branch of another Afghan lender, Bank Milli, in the western city of Herat, according to two female cashiers who witnessed it.Three Taliban fighters carrying guns entered the branch, admonishing female employees for showing their faces in public. Women there quit, sending male relatives in their place.Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid did not respond to a request for comment about the two incidents. Spokespeople for the two banks did not respond to requests for comment.On the broader question of whether women would be allowed to work in banks in areas it controls, Mujahid added that no decision had yet been made.”After the establishment of the Islamic system, it will be decided according to the law, and God willing, there will be no problems,” he said.The United States and others Western powers fear that the Taliban will roll back many of the freedoms won by women.Gains made in women’s right have been touted as one of the biggest accomplishments during the 20 years that U.S.-led forces have been deployed in Afghanistan, although they have mostly been made in urban centers.Afghan women working in fields including journalism, healthcare and law enforcement have been killed in a wave of attacks since peace talks began last year between the Taliban and the U.S.-backed Afghan government.The government blames most targeted killings on the Taliban, who deny carrying out assassinations.”The Taliban will regress freedom at all levels and that is what we are fighting against,” an Afghan government spokesperson said.”Women and children are suffering the most and our forces are trying to save democracy. The world should understand and help us.”Scores of educated Afghan women took to social media to appeal for help and express their frustration.”With every city collapsing, human bodies collapse, dreams collapse, history and future collapse, art and culture collapse, life and beauty collapse, our world collapse,” Rada Akbar wrote on Twitter. “Someone please stop this.”
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The U.N. refugee agency is calling for international support to help hundreds of thousands of Afghan civilians fleeing the intensified fighting precipitated by the U.S. and NATO troop withdrawal from the country. The breathtaking speed at which Taliban insurgents have taken control of most of Afghanistan has caught international and domestic observers by surprise.  It also has left U.N. and other humanitarian agencies ill-prepared to assist the hundreds of thousands of people displaced and left unprotected by the escalating conflict.The U.N. refugee agency says it is alarmed by the unfolding humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan. It warns of a record number of civilian casualties this year if there is no significant de-escalation of violence.Biden Authorizes $100 Million in Emergency Funds for Afghan RefugeesThousands risk retaliation from Taliban insurgents because they worked for the US governmentUNHCR spokeswoman Shabia Mantoo calls the situation dire and says the impact of the conflict on women and girls is particularly worrisome.  She says women and children account for a staggering 80 percent of the nearly quarter-million Afghans who have fled their homes since the end of May.    “Displaced civilians are talking about extortion by non-state armed groups, the presence of improvised explosive devices on major roads,” Mantoo said. “And also, not just rising insecurity, we are also seeing the number of civilian casualties really spiraling alarmingly and an increasing proportion of women and children are among those that are targeted.”   Ongoing fighting is reported in 33 of Afghanistan’s 34 provinces and Kandahar, the country’s second largest city, has now fallen to the Taliban.  Mantoo says most of those forced to flee remain within the country, as close to their homes as fighting will allow.  She says few people, so far, have sought asylum in neighboring Pakistan and Iran. But, given the evolving crisis in Afghanistan, she notes that could change.  Therefore, she says the UNHCR is urging neighboring countries to keep their borders open.”An inability to seek safety may risk innumerable civilian lives…In the context of generalized insecurity in many parts of Afghanistan, it is increasingly clear that Afghans outside of the country may have international protection needs,” Mantoo said. “UNHCR calls for all states to ensure that they are able to seek safety, regardless of their current legal status.”   Mantoo says the UNHCR and its partners are providing humanitarian assistance to nearly 400,000 displaced people.  Among their most critical needs, she says are food, shelter, hygiene, and sanitation.
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British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace warned Friday that Afghanistan risks becoming a failed state and predicted a-Qaida will again thrive in the country.“I’m absolutely worried that failed states are breeding grounds for those types of people,” he told British broadcaster Sky News.Hours earlier Wallace announced Britain will dispatch hundreds of combat-ready paratroopers to Kabul to help evacuate more than 4,000 Britons and as many as 2,000 Afghans, who are likely to be killed by the Taliban for working with the British military.The British redeployment will mean Britain will have the same number of troops in the country — 750 — before NATO forces started withdrawing last month from Afghanistan.FILE – A British soldier with NATO-led Resolute Support Mission forces arrives at the site of an attack in Kabul, Afghanistan, March 25, 2020.Officials also announced Thursday that the British Embassy is to move from the so-called Green Zone on the outskirts of the Afghan capital to what security chiefs think is a more secure undisclosed location. The embassy is to be reduced to a skeleton staff and that staff will focus largely on processing U.K. visas for Afghans earmarked for evacuation.“The security of British nationals, British military personnel and former Afghan staff is our first priority. We must do everything we can to ensure their safety,” Wallace said Thursday as details of the deployment were announced.  The evacuation force will be drawn mainly from the 16 Air Assault Brigade, the British army’s airborne rapid reaction force.In a statement, Britain’s Defense Ministry said the deployment, which it said would take place in the next 48 hours, is being made “in light of the increasing violence and rapidly deteriorating security environment in the country.”All British troops, though, are scheduled to depart Afghanistan by early September, in line with U.S. President Joe Biden’s deadline for the withdrawal of U.S. ground forces, a deadline also being observed by other NATO countries.Maps show areas controlled by Taliban at selected dates each month.The speed of the Taliban’s military advance the past week has caught many British officials by surprise. It has also added to mounting criticism from British Conservative lawmakers and former senior British generals at the Biden administration’s decision to withdraw from Afghanistan.“The decision to withdraw is like a rug pulled from under the feet of our partners,” Conservative Tom Tugendhat, chairman House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee, wrote on Twitter.He described the move as a “dismal failure of geo-strategy and of statecraft.”“A hasty exit is not a sign of success. Needing reinforcements to keep the door open as you leave is a sure sign of failure,” he added.Tugendhat, a former British army officer, served in Afghanistan. He was tweeting as the Taliban captured the city of Herat near the border with Iran as well as Kandahar, the Taliban’s spiritual home.General Richard Dannatt, a former head of the British Army, also criticized the decision to withdraw from Afghanistan.“I’m afraid Joe Biden has triggered this because while the much-reduced US-led NATO force was still in Afghanistan we were putting the backbone into the Afghan National Army and they were holding off the Taliban. Because he has decided to cut and run effectively it’s triggered this situation. It’s very sad,” he said.U.S.-led NATO forces invaded Afghanistan nearly 20 years ago in the wake of the 9/11 terror attacks carried out by al-Qaida, whose leadership was harbored by Afghanistan’s then-Taliban government. A total of 456 British servicemen and Defense Ministry civilians have died in Afghanistan the past two decades.FILE – The repatriation cortege carrying the bodies of six British Army soldiers killed in Afghanistan stops at The Memorial Garden in Carterton, near Brize Norton, southern England, March 20, 2012.Britain’s defense secretary was also critical of the withdrawal in his television interview Friday, saying, “This was not the right time or decision to make because, of course, al-Qaida will probably come back.” He noted he had disapproved publicly of the withdrawal deal between U.S. and the Taliban struck in 2020 by the administration of former U.S. President Donald Trump.“I was public about it that at the time of the Trump deal. … I felt that that was a mistake to have done it that way, that we will all as an international community pay the consequences of that, but when the United States as the framework nation took that decision, the way we were all configured, the way we had gone in meant that we had to leave as well,” he said.Al-Qaida, IS Set to Reconstitute in Afghanistan, BeyondFear of terror revival grows as US troop withdrawBiden Tuesday told reporters in Washington that he does not regret the withdrawal, despite the rapid advances being made by the Taliban.Speaking to reporters at the White House, he said the U.S. was keeping the commitments it had made to the Afghan government by providing close air support to the Afghan military, paying army salaries and supplying Afghan forces with equipment.“They’ve got to fight for themselves,” he said. “They’ve got to want to fight,” he added.
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The Taliban said Friday their overnight offensives had fully captured five major provincial capitals in Afghanistan, including southern Kandahar, western Herat, northeastern Qahar-e-Naw, southern, Lashkar Gah and strategically important southeastern Ghazni.The stunning victories have brought the Islamist insurgents a step closer to the national capital, Kabul, where beleaguered Afghan President Ashraf Ghani’s government would not respond to media queries about the battlefield status.Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid said in a statement issued Friday morning their latest advances have established insurgent control over 14 of Afghanistan’s 34 provinces during the past week.Mujahid warned the Taliban were determined to push ahead with their offensives to take control of all the provinces, urging Afghan security forces in the remaining areas to “end resistance and not risk their lives.”Kandahar, Afghanistan’s second-largest city, had been under Taliban attacks for days.Taliban spokesperson Qari Yousuf Ahmadi, who speaks for insurgent operations in southern Afghanistan, claimed Friday that Lashkar Gah, the capital of Helmand province in the south had also fallen under Taliban control. Afghan officials did not immediately comment on the fall of Lashkar Gah, as has been the case for other battlefield losses over the past couple of days.Afghan government security forces have struggled to contain stunning weeklong insurgent advances.U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin spoke with Ghani to inform him that Washington was reducing its civilian footprint in Kabul in light of the evolving security situation.“Secretary Blinken affirmed that the United States remained committed to support a political solution to the conflict,” said a post-conversation State Department announcement.Critics and international military experts are shocked at the way U.S.-trained Afghan security forces, with an investment of tens of billions of dollars, have crumbled in the face of insurgent advances.After today, I’m just going to say it: I am legitimately shocked at how quickly the cities of #Afghanistan have fallen. I knew the #ANDSF weren’t as strong as advertised in rural areas, but I genuinely believed they’d stand & fight to defend the cities. I was wrong.— Dr. Jonathan Schroden (@JJSchroden) August 12, 2021Ghazni, the capital of the province of the same name, sits on the major Kabul-Kandahar highway. It links the national capital to southern provinces, traditional Taliban strongholds.Governor ‘surrendered’Nasir Faqiri, head of the Provincial Council, tweeted Thursday morning that Ghazni Governor Mohammad Daud Laghmani allegedly struck a surrender deal with the Taliban before abandoning the province and leaving for Kabul with other senior government officials.آقای لغمانی والی با طالبان به تفاهم و معامله غزنی را از راه زمین به مقصد کابل ترک کردند و از مدت های به این طرف صدا کردم که فعالیت های مشکوک دارد. pic.twitter.com/CtOKiZgsPP— Nasir Faqiri (@nasir_faqiri) August 12, 2021An Afghan interior ministry spokesperson later in the day confirmed to reporters that Laghmani and his associates were arrested by security forces while they were on their way to Kabul from Ghazni and that an investigation was under way to determine whether the detainees intentionally handed over the city to the Taliban.”With the fall of Ghazni without a fight, the military option [Ghani’s government] is out. Taliban are at the door of Kabul. It is imperative we avoid a confrontation in the capital,” said Torek Farhadi, a former Afghan government adviser and analyst.Prison guards surrenderResidents reported Thursday that there was no letup in heavy clashes in the two embattled provincial capital cities of Kandahar and Lashkar Gah in southern Afghanistan.The Taliban captured the central prison in Kandahar in the process of overnight fighting and freed inmates from the facility, including insurgent detainees.Major Mohammad Sadiq Esa, a regional military spokesperson, told VOA the prison had been under a relentless Taliban attack since Wednesday, but he shared no further details and insisted the facility was being adequately guarded.A security officer told VOA on condition of anonymity that prison guards surrendered to the insurgents, paving the way for them to free about 3,000 prisoners. A large number of high-profile criminals were said to be among the inmates, including members of the Taliban.Fighting in Kandahar and Lashkar Gah have prompted cellphone companies to suspend their operations, adding to the problems facing residents who are trapped there and unable to leave the conflict zone or get in touch with relatives.Herat, a major city on the border with Iran, had been under attack for weeks.The Taliban have intensified attacks since the start of May, when U.S. and NATO allies began pulling their last remaining troops from Afghanistan after nearly 20 years of involvement in the war.The insurgents have since captured dozens of districts, enabling them to besiege and overrun 11 provincial capitals.The military setbacks prompted Afghan President Ashraf Ghani on Wednesday to remove his army chief and replace him with General Hibatullah Alizai, commander of the Special Operations forces. But the crisis facing the Afghan government continues to deepen.The International Committee of the Red Cross said Tuesday that its 15 health facilities across Afghanistan had treated more than 4,000 patients with weapons-related injuries since Aug. 1, underscoring the intensity of the fighting.The United Nations reported last month that Afghan civilian deaths and injuries rose by nearly 50% in the first six months of 2021 and warned that the year could see the highest number of civilian casualties since the war began 20 years ago.Afghan officials cited a lack of U.S. air power support for not being able to stem Taliban advances.The U.S. military in recent days conducted airstrikes in support of Afghan forces, but that support will be gone after the foreign troop withdrawal is completed by the end of this month.Future ‘on their shoulders’Pentagon press secretary John Kirby told reporters in Washington on Wednesday that the U.S. was “mindful” of the deteriorating security situation in Afghanistan.”Our focus right now remains on supporting the Afghan forces in the field where and when feasible we can from the air, as well as completing our drawdown in a safe and orderly way. We are on track to do that by the end of the month,” Kirby said.”We’re not prescribing specific methods of defense for him. It’s his country. He’s commander in chief,” Kirby said bluntly while responding to a question about Ghani. “It’s his political leadership, his political will, that can make a big difference here.”The Taliban have been demanding Ghani’s resignation in order for peace talks to move after the foreign troop withdrawal. The beleaguered president maintains he is the legitimate leader of Afghanistan and will not step down under Taliban military pressure.”President Ghani should no longer be oblivious to the pain this situation causes the people of Afghanistan. Step aside for the sake of the people and open the way to a peaceful transition government to take over for two years with international guarantees,” Farhadi said. The ”Taliban should also accept this and avoid more bloodshed. The Afghan nation needs to breathe easy.”US reactionSeparately, the U.S. Embassy in Kabul on Thursday denounced the Taliban for what it said was the “unlawful arrest of several members” of the Afghan government, including both civilians and security officials.The embassy statement called for the immediate release of all detainees and cited “credible sources,” who indicated the arrests had taken place in several locations.”These actions are unacceptable and contradict the Taliban’s claim to support a negotiated settlement in the ongoing Doha peace process,” the embassy said. “The actions also contrast the Taliban’s own rhetoric providing for the safety of Afghan leaders and troops in areas recently seized by the Taliban.”Jeff Seldin reported from Washington.   
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The United States is deploying 3,000 U.S. troops to the airport in Kabul to help evacuate the U.S. Embassy in Afghanistan. As VOA’s Senior Diplomatic Correspondent Cindy Saine reports, some observers are drawing comparisons to the U.S. evacuation of its citizens from Vietnam on April 30, 1975.
Producer: Barry Unger
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Just weeks away from completing its military withdrawal from Afghanistan, the United States is sending thousands of combat troops back to Kabul in a last-ditch attempt to move diplomatic personnel and Afghan allies out of harm’s way.The move, announced Thursday by the State Department and the Pentagon, comes as U.S.-trained and -equipped Afghan security forces continue to crumble in the face of an offensive that has seen almost half of Afghanistan’s 34 provincial capitals fall to Taliban insurgents in less than a week.Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
Taliban fighters patrol inside the city of Ghazni, southwest of Kabul, Afghanistan, Aug. 12, 2021.And another 3,500 to 4,000 troops with the U.S. Army’s 82nd Airborne Division are being sent to U.S. bases in Kuwait, where they will be on standby should conditions deteriorate more quickly.”This is not abandonment. This is not an evacuation,” State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters Thursday, admitting only a “core diplomatic presence” would remain in Afghanistan.”What this is, is a reduction in the size of our civilian footprint,” he said. “This is a drawdown of civilian Americans who will, in many cases, be able to perform their important functions elsewhere.”BREAKING: “We are further reducing our civilian footprint in Pentagon spokesman John Kirby speaks during a briefing at the Pentagon in Washington, Aug. 12, 2021.”This is a temporary mission with a narrow focus,” Kirby said of the 3,000 troops, who will be charged with securing the embassy and Hamid Karzai International Airport “to facilitate the movement of all these people over the next couple of weeks.”Earlier this week, U.S. officials said the military withdrawal was about 95% complete, and that of the 2,500 or so troops that had been in Afghanistan at the start of May, when the withdrawal began, only about 650 remained, tasked with providing security at the airport and the embassy.U.S. officials have become increasingly alarmed about the rapid disintegration of the Afghan security forces after Taliban fighters embarked on a nationwide campaign to take key territory and provincial capitals, starting with Zaranj, the capital of Nimruz province, last Friday.Zaranj Becomes First Afghan Provincial Capital to Fall to Taliban Taliban claim responsibility for assassination of the head of the government’s Media and Information CenterIn the following days, Taliban fighters captured the capitals of Jawzjan, Kunduz, Takhar, Sar-e Pul, Samangan, Farah, Baghlan and Badakhshan provinces, in some cases without a fight.Then, early Thursday, the insurgents took Ghazni, a strategic city on the road from Kandahar to Kabul, just 150 kilometers from the capital.By late Thursday, U.S. officials said an 11th provincial capital, Herat, was also in Taliban hands, while Kandahar itself was “in the process of falling.”A second U.S. official, also speaking on the condition of anonymity, called the fall of Herat and the impending fall of Kandahar “significant.”Both cities had been reinforced by Afghan special forces and had been getting additional help from the U.S., whose concentrated airstrikes aimed to drive back Taliban fighters.NEW: US official confirms US military deploying #AC130 gunships, #MQ9#Reaper drones as well as #B52 bombers & #F18s to strike #Taliban and boost #Afghanistan security forcesAC-130s & MQ-9s carrying out the majority of the strikes— Jeff Seldin (@jseldin) August 9, 2021But the failure of Afghanistan’s most capable forces and Afghan and U.S. airpower to hold off Taliban fighters in priority areas set off alarms that, barring significant developments, the days of the Afghan government in Kabul might be numbered.And while defense officials said the U.S. would continue to support Afghan forces with airstrikes when and where they could, they said the influx of U.S. troops and the expanded presence at the Kabul airport would not mean more help for beleaguered Afghan security forces.”There is no planning and no discussion of using Hamid Karzai International Airport as a base for conducting airstrikes,” the Pentagon’s Kirby said at a news conference Thursday, in response to a question from VOA.For now, U.S. officials said they expected to start evacuating civilian personnel in the coming days, with the goal of having everyone except core diplomatic personnel out of Afghanistan by the end of the month.The State Department said some personnel would leave on commercial flights, which continue to operate out of the Kabul airport. But defense officials said they were preparing to be called upon to evacuate some U.S. civilians as well as Afghans who have worked with the U.S., and their families, using military planes.Earlier Thursday, the U.S. Embassy in Kabul urged U.S. citizens to “leave Afghanistan immediately using available commercial flight options” and offered help to citizens unable to leave immediately for financial or other reasons.U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin spoke with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani by phone before announcing the decision.According to a State Department readout, the two U.S officials sought to “stress that the United States remains invested in the security and stability of Afghanistan in the face of violence by the Taliban.”In a readout on @SecBlinken and @SecDef’s call with @ashrafghani, both Blinken and Austin informed Ghani that the U.S. is reducing its civilian footprint in #Kabul in light of the evolving security situation and will accelerate the tempo of Special Immigration Visa (#SIV) flights pic.twitter.com/dpACQJn36P— VOA Nike Ching 张蓉湘 (@rongxiang) August 12, 2021Later, a State Department spokesperson denied reports the U.S. had pressed Ghani to resign, telling VOA, “Rumors indicating we have done so are completely false.”“Decisions about who leads the country are for Afghans to make,” the spokesperson added.Other countries were also urging their citizens to clear out of Afghanistan.Britain on Thursday urged its citizens to “leave Afghanistan immediately.”ICYMI: @USEmbassyKabul warns citizens “to leave #Afghanistan immediately””Given the security conditions & reduced staffing, the Embassy’s ability to assist US citizens in Afghanistan is extremely limited even within #Kabul”https://t.co/yoNeiIu7pc— Jeff Seldin (@jseldin) August 12, 2021British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace later announced he was sending about 600 troops “to support the diplomatic presence in Kabul, assist British nationals to leave the country and support the relocation of former Afghan staff who risked their lives serving alongside us.”Some American military veterans and other observers have said the rapid retreat from Afghanistan is reminiscent of the evacuation of the last Americans in South Vietnam in April 1975.Many said they still remembered the images of helicopters pulling away from the roof of the U.S. Embassy in Saigon as the city fell to communist forces from North Vietnam.”The Taliban is not the North Vietnamese Army,” U.S. President Joe Biden said just last month. “They’re not remotely comparable in terms of capability. There’s going to be no circumstance when you’re going to see people being lifted off the roof of an embassy of the United States from Afghanistan.”VOA’s Cindy Saine and Nike Ching contributed to this report.
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The European Union on Thursday warned the Taliban that it would face being cut off by the international community if it seized power through violence, as the insurgents sweep across Afghanistan.”If power is taken by force and an Islamic Emirate re-established, the Taliban would face non-recognition, isolation, lack of international support and the prospect of continued conflict and protracted instability in Afghanistan,” EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said in a statement.”The EU aims to continue its partnership and support to the Afghan people. However, support will be conditioned on a peaceful and inclusive settlement and respect for the fundamental rights of all Afghans, including women, youth and minorities,” Borrell said.He insisted that “it is critical that the significant gains made by women and girls over the past two decades are preserved, including as regards access to education.”The statement called for “an immediate halt of the ongoing violence” and urged the Taliban to resume peace talks with the government in Kabul.”The EU condemns the increasing violations of International Humanitarian Law and human rights, in particular in Taliban-controlled areas and in cities,” it said.Borrell said the 27-nation bloc also encouraged the authorities in Kabul “to settle political differences, increase representation of all stakeholders and engage with the Taliban from a united perspective.”The statement came after Afghan troops abandoned the country’s third-largest city, Herat, in the face of a Taliban blitz that has seized swaths of the country following the withdrawal of foreign forces.
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As families flee Taliban forces overrunning much of Afghanistan, some refugees say their escape from certain death has left them with an uncertain and dangerous future. VOA’s Heather Murdock reports from Van in Turkey.Camera: Heather Murdock 
 
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The war in Afghanistan has intensified and entered a deadlier phase. Fighting has now reached cities, where most of the population lives. In Kabul, VOA’s Ayesha Tanzeem met people displaced by war, and shares the story of the horrors they face.
Camera: Rahim Gul Sarwan
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The United States Thursday urged Americans to leave Afghanistan immediately as the Taliban continued their advance across the country with the seizure of a strategic city near the capital of Kabul.The U.S. embassy in Kabul said in a notice on its website that U.S. citizens should “leave Afghanistan immediately using available commercial flight options.”The embassy offered help to citizens unable to leave immediately for financial or other reasons but warned, “Given the security conditions and reduced staffing, the Embassy’s ability to assist U.S. citizens in Afghanistan is extremely limited even within Kabul.”On Thursday, the Taliban captured the key city of Ghazni, about 150 kilometers southwest of Kabul, its latest seizure since the U.S. began withdrawing troops from the country in May. U.S. troops are expected to be out by the end of this month.The pullout is leaving the Afghan government to fight the Islamist group without the support of U.S. troops. The U.S. ordered American government employees on April 27 to work outside the embassy if possible, noting an escalation of violence in Kabul.State Department spokesman Ned Price said earlier this week the embassy’s status had not changed but added that the U.S. government was evaluating threats around the diplomatic mission daily. 
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Taliban insurgents Thursday captured Afghanistan’s strategically important southeastern city of Ghazni, bringing them a step closer to the national capital, Kabul.
 
Afghan government security forces have struggled to contain stunning weeklong insurgent advances, allowing the Taliban to seize control of at least 10 out of the embattled country’s 34 provincial capitals and threaten others.  
 
Ghazni, the capital of the province of the same name, sits on the major Kabul-Kandahar highway. It links the national capital to southern provinces, traditional Taliban strongholds.  
 Governor ‘surrendered’
 
Nasir Faqiri, head of the Provincial Council, tweeted Thursday morning that Ghazni Governor Mohammad Daud Laghmani allegedly struck a surrender deal with the Taliban before abandoning the province and leaving for Kabul with other senior government officials.آقای لغمانی والی با طالبان به تفاهم و معامله غزنی را از راه زمین به مقصد کابل ترک کردند و از مدت های به این طرف صدا کردم که فعالیت های مشکوک دارد. pic.twitter.com/CtOKiZgsPP— Nasir Faqiri (@nasir_faqiri) August 12, 2021An Afghan interior minister later in the day confirmed to reporters that Laghmani and his associates had been arrested while on their way to the capital and were being investigated.  
 
“With the fall of Ghazni without a fight, the military option is out. Taliban are at the door of Kabul. It is imperative we avoid a confrontation in the capital,” said Torek Farhadi, a former Afghan government adviser and analyst.A Taliban fighter stands guard at the entrance of the police headquarters in Ghazni on Aug. 12, 2021, as the Taliban move closer to Afghanistan’s capital after taking Ghazni city.Prisoners freed
 
Residents reported Thursday that there was no letup in heavy clashes in the two embattled provincial capital cities of Kandahar and Lashkar Gah in southern Afghanistan.
 
The Taliban captured the central prison in Kandahar in the process of overnight fighting and freed inmates from the facility, including insurgent detainees.  
 
Major Mohammad Sadiq Esa, a regional military spokesman, told VOA the prison was under a relentless Taliban attack since Wednesday, but he shared no further details and insisted the facility was being adequately guarded.   
 
A security officer told VOA on condition of anonymity that prison guards surrendered to the insurgents, paving the way for them to free around 3,000 prisoners. A large number of high-profile criminals were said to be among the inmates, including members of the Taliban.Fighting in Kandahar, the second largest Afghan city, and Lashkar Gah have prompted cellphone companies to suspend their operations, adding to the problems facing residents who are trapped there and unable to leave the conflict zone or get in touch with relatives.The Taliban also launched a major attack on the embattled western Herat city. Sources said insurgents were advancing toward the center of the usually bustling Afghan city on the border with Iran.
 
The Taliban have intensified attacks since the start of May, when U.S. and NATO allies began pulling their last remaining troops from Afghanistan after nearly 20 years of involvement in the war.  
 
The insurgents have since captured dozens of districts, enabling them to besiege and overrun 10 provincial capitals. As Taliban Advance and Fighting Intensifies, Afghan Media Outlets Close Over 90 Afghan radio and TV stations have closed as fighting draws near, with some saying it is no longer safe to go out and report Government in crisisThe military setbacks prompted Afghan President Ashraf Ghani on Wednesday to remove his army chief and replace him with General Hibatullah Alizai, commander of the Special Operations forces. But the crisis facing the Afghan government continues to deepen.
 
The International Committee of the Red Cross said Tuesday that its 15 health facilities across Afghanistan had treated more than 4,000 patients with weapon-related injures since August 1, underscoring the intensity of the fighting.
 
The United Nations reported last month that Afghan civilian deaths and injuries rose by nearly 50% in the first six months of 2021 and warned that the year could see the highest number of civilian casualties since the war began 20 years ago.
 
Afghan officials cited a lack of U.S. air power support for not being able to stem Taliban advances.  
 
The U.S. military in recent days conducted airstrikes in support of Afghan forces, but that support will be gone after the foreign troop withdrawal is completed by the end of this month.Smoke rises after a car bomb attack at the police headquarters of Lashkar Gah, Helmand province, southwestern Afghanistan, Aug. 11, 2021.Future ‘on their shoulders’
 
Pentagon press secretary John Kirby told reporters in Washington on Wednesday that the U.S. was “mindful” of the deteriorating security situation in Afghanistan.
 
“Our focus right now remains on supporting the Afghan forces in the field where and when feasible we can from the air, as well as completing our drawdown in a safe and orderly way. We are on track to do that by the end of the month,” Kirby said.  
 
“We’re not prescribing specific methods of defense for him. It’s his country. He’s commander in chief,” Kirby said bluntly while responding to a question about Ghani. “It’s his political leadership, his political will that can make a big difference here.”
The message was echoed by the White House.”Afghan leaders have to come together. The future of the country is really on their shoulders,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters Wednesday.
 
The Taliban have been demanding Ghani’s resignation in order for peace talks to move after the foreign troop withdrawal. The beleaguered president maintains he is the legitimate leader of Afghanistan and will not step down under Taliban military pressure.
 
“President Ghani should no longer be oblivious to the pain this situation causes the people of Afghanistan. Step aside for the sake of the people, and open the way to a peaceful transition government to take over for two years with international guarantees,” Farhadi said. The “Taliban should also accept this and avoid more bloodshed. The Afghan nation needs to breathe easy.”
 
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The Taliban captured a police headquarters Thursday in a provincial capital in southern Afghanistan teetering toward being lost to the insurgents as suspected U.S. airstrikes pounded the area, an official said.Fighting raged in Lashkar Gah, one of Afghanistan’s largest cities in the Taliban heartland of Helmand province, where surrounded government forces hoped to hold onto the capital after the militants’ weeklong blitz has seen them already “The Taliban used civilian houses to protect themselves, and the government, without paying any attention to civilians, carried out airstrikes,” she said.With the Afghan air power limited and in disarray, the U.S. Air Force is believed to be carrying out some series of strikes to support Afghan forces. Aviation tracking data suggested U.S. Air Force B-52 bombers, F-15 fighter jets, drones and other aircraft were involved in the fighting overnight across the country, according to Australia-based security firm The Cavell Group.It’s unclear what casualties the U.S. bombing campaign has caused. The U.S. Air Force’s Central Command, based in Qatar, did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday.Meanwhile, the Taliban appeared to be pressing into the capital of Ghazni province, some 130 kilometers southwest of Kabul. Wahidullah Jumazada, a spokesman for the provincial governor in Ghazni, acknowledged the insurgents had launched attacks from several directions on the capital, but insisted the government remained in control.The Taliban posted a video online claiming they had made it inside the provincial capital.The success of the Taliban offensive also calls into question whether they would ever rejoin long-stalled peace talks in Qatar aimed at moving Afghanistan toward an inclusive interim administration as the West hoped. Instead, the Taliban could come to power by force — or the country could splinter into factional fighting like it did after the Soviet withdrawal in 1989.In Doha, U.S. envoy Zalmay Khalilzad has met with diplomats from China, Pakistan and Russia in an effort to as group warn the Taliban they could again be considered international pariahs if they continue their offensive, State Department spokesperson Ned Price said. Khalizad also met with Afghan government and Taliban officials, but the fighting goes on without a sign of it abating.The multiple battle fronts have stretched the government’s special operations forces — while regular troops have often fled the battlefield — and the violence has pushed thousands of civilians to seek safety in the capital.The latest U.S. military intelligence assessment is that Kabul could come under insurgent pressure within 30 days and that if current trends hold, the Taliban could gain full control of the country within a couple of months. 
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Sri Lanka has filed 23,270 charges against 25 people in connection with the 2019 Easter Sunday suicide bomb attacks on churches and hotels that killed 269 people, the president’s office said Wednesday.The charges filed Tuesday under the country’s anti-terror law include conspiring to murder, aiding and abetting, collecting arms and ammunition, and attempted murder, it said.The attorney general also asked the chief justice to appoint a special three-member high court bench to hear the cases speedily, it said in a statement.Two local Muslim groups that had pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group were blamed for the six near-simultaneous suicide bomb attacks on April 21, 2019. The blasts targeted three churches and three hotels.Another suicide bomber who had entered a fourth hotel left without setting off his bomb, but later committed suicide by detonating his explosives at a different location.Friction and a communication breakdown between then-President Maithripala Sirisena and then-Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe were blamed for the government’s failure to act on near-specific foreign intelligence warnings ahead of the attacks. That led to the election of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa later in 2019 on a platform of national security.Rajapaksa was a former army officer and a defense official who had played a decisive role in defeating Tamil Tiger rebels and ending a 26-year civil war.The head of the Roman Catholic archdiocese of Colombo, Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, has repeatedly charged that the investigation into the blasts was not being conducted properly. He said he believes the real conspirators are still at large and has accused authorities of trying to shield the masterminds.Ranjith wrote a strong letter to Rajapaksa last month stating there are allegations that some members of the state intelligence services knew and met with the attacker who initially did not explode his bomb and asked the authorities to investigate. Citing speeches in Parliament by lawmakers, Ranjith said intelligence personnel also allegedly had a suspect released from police custody.The president’s office said presidential legal affairs director Harigupta Rohanadeera had sent a detailed reply to Ranjith but did not release the letter. 
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With each new victory claimed by the Taliban, the message from Washington to the Afghan government in Kabul becomes more pointed: The failure to blunt the Taliban’s military offensive rests on you. The message has also become increasingly public. “Afghan leaders have to come together. The future of the country is really on their shoulders,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters Wednesday. Afghan security forces “have what they need,” she added. “What they need to determine is if they have the political will to fight back and if they have the ability to unite as leaders to fight back.” FILE – Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, right, and rival Abdullah Abdullah prepare to sign a power-sharing agreement at the Presidential Palace in Kabul, in this photograph taken May 17, 2020, and released by Afghanistan’s Office of Chief Executive.Asked about Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, Pentagon press secretary John Kirby was equally blunt. “We’re not prescribing specific methods of defense for him. It’s his country. He’s commander in chief,” Kirby said. “It’s his political leadership, his political will that can make a big difference here.” The comments Wednesday from the White House and Pentagon mirrored sentiments expressed a day earlier by U.S. President Joe Biden, who defended his decision to follow through on the February 2020 Doha agreement with the Taliban and bring U.S. troops home after nearly two decades of war. “We spent over a trillion dollars over 20 years. We trained and equipped with modern equipment over 300,000 Afghan forces,” Biden said Tuesday. “They outnumber the Taliban.” “They’ve got to want to fight,” he told reporters. But frustration in Washington appears to be building. US Admits Afghanistan ‘Not Going in the Right Direction’Official tells VOA the Taliban are ‘expanding their military power’ with each victory on the groundU.S. defense officials have repeatedly argued that the U.S.-trained Afghan security forces have the capacity and the capability to mount a much stiffer defense against Taliban fighters, who now claim to have overrun nine provincial capitals in less than a week. Taliban Seize Provincial Airports as They Consolidate Gains in Afghanistan Afghan forces struggle to stem rapid Taliban gainsOfficials have also defended U.S. efforts to bolster Afghan defenses, pointing to an increase in U.S. airstrikes dating back to July that at first targeted weapons and equipment captured by the Taliban and have focused more recently on supporting Afghan forces battling the Taliban in Kandahar, Herat and Lashkar Gah, all of which have been under a sustained threat. Zaranj Becomes First Afghan Provincial Capital to Fall to Taliban Taliban claim responsibility for assassination of the head of the government’s Media and Information CenterAt the same time, U.S. officials have become increasingly defensive when fielding questions about the repeated failure of the U.S.-trained Afghan security forces to thwart Taliban advances. “I would challenge the assumption … that we fell short over the course of 20 years,” the Pentagon’s Kirby told reporters Wednesday.  “The narrative that in every place and every way the Afghan forces are simply folding up and walking away is not accurate,” he said. “There are places and there are times, including today, where Afghan forces in the field are putting up a fight.” “We have seen #Afghan forces fight back in certain places” per @PentagonPresSec “We have seen the Afghan air force be very aggressive…They are professional. They are well-trained & they are in the air”— Jeff Seldin (@jseldin) August 11, 2021″It comes down to leadership on the battlefield and leadership in Kabul,” Kirby said. Adding to the concerns are new U.S. intelligence assessments, first reported by The Washington Post, that Kabul could fall to the Taliban in as little as 30 days.  U.S officials refused to publicly comment on the report, beyond emphasizing that “no particular outcome, in our view, is inevitable.” “We are closely watching the deteriorating security conditions in parts of the country, but no particular outcome, in our view, is inevitable” per @PressSec, when asked about reports US intel thinks #Afghanistan could fall in as little as 30 days— Jeff Seldin (@jseldin) August 11, 2021But senior U.S. officials Wednesday refused to rule out offering Afghan forces additional help beyond the August 31 deadline for the U.S. withdrawal, with the White House going as far as to say, “It’s a good question.” “Right now, the authorities that we have to support the Afghans from the air expire at the end of this month,” the Pentagon’s Kirby said when pressed on the matter by VOA. “There has been no policy decision about what it looks like beyond that, and I’m simply not going to speculate.” 
 
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Afghan clothes and Iranian SIM cards litter fields under the mountains that stand between Turkey and the Iranian border. A wisp of smoke rises out of what was a small fire, abandoned many hours before.  As the Taliban swept through villages and cities in Afghanistan over the past few months, families have fled in droves, many traveling across Iran and into Turkey.  In the past, this route was flooded with refugees trying to get to Europe to seek safety and freedom. Now it’s packed with people making a last-ditch effort to stay alive in Turkey, where they find no humanitarian aid and run the risk of being arrested and deported. Abdul Tawab, 16, fled Afghanistan after his uncle, a lawyer in a government court, was killed by the Taliban, Aug. 11, 2021, in Van, Turkey. (Claire Thomas/VOA)We meet 16-year-old Abdul Tawab outside the park where he sleeps in central Van, a city famous among tourists for its massive lake and among refugees for its proximity to the Iranian border.  Tawab arrived in Turkey two weeks ago, hoping to go to Istanbul to find a job. But like so many other men and boys in the park, he is now out of money and stuck here in Van. Tawab says he is afraid he will be arrested if he draws attention to himself outside, so we walk a zigzag path through the markets until he feels safe at a table upstairs in a café.  In Afghanistan, Tawab supported five siblings and his parents on his carpenter’s salary, which was about $1 a day. He left home after the Taliban had stormed into his village and riddled his uncle with bullets, killing the well-loved father of nine. “He didn’t care if people were rich or poor,” Tawab says. “He liked everyone, and everyone liked him.” Taliban fighters on motorcycles later wrapped his uncle’s body in barbed wire and deposited it in a field, Tawab says. Refugees say the militants will execute anyone who is associated with the Afghanistan government or foreign organizations, or anyone identified as Hazara, a Shiite ethnic group and the country’s largest religious minority. Saranwal Nadir, Tawab’s uncle, was a lawyer in a government court. “We found him in the field,” Tawab says. “His body was lying in puddles of water and blood.”  Crisis beginning Turkey already hosts 3.7 million refugees, more than any other country in the world. But frustration among the population is growing, and many believe this crisis is only beginning.  Garments traditional in Afghanistan and Pakistan are found in an area where refugees hide out in when they first enter Turkey, Aug. 11, 2021, in Van, Turkey. (Claire Thomas/VOA)Twitter in Turkey is alight with rumors about incoming people from Afghanistan. Some say the refugees are increasing crime rates or depressing wages. Another commonly heard complaint is that they are mostly young men, as evidenced by videos online. Young men from Afghanistan say the women and children are mostly in safe houses, hidden from cameras by the same smugglers who kicked the men out onto the streets, sometimes to be rounded up and deported. When the United States fully pulls out of Afghanistan, the borders may be even more packed with people trying to get into Turkey, a relatively safe country that has a history of taking in refugees, says Mahmut Kaçan, a lawyer and the coordinator for the Asylum and Migration Commission of the Van Bar Association.  But once in Turkey, there is no clear path to establishing legal status and no organizations at all to support families in need of food or shelter. The United Nations’ refugee agency no longer processes asylum claims in Turkey, and claims through government offices can take years.  “They are living in limbo in Turkey,” Kaçan says.  Taliban takeover Up at least four flights of sloping concrete stairs, in a two-bedroom apartment in Van, two families from Afghanistan, 12 people in all, say they are afraid to go outside. Inside, the apartment is barren, with almost no furniture and only a few plastic bags of clothes and bedding.  Two families, 12 people total, live in this unfurnished apartment in Van, Turkey, after fleeing Afghanistan, Aug. 10, 2021. (Claire Thomas/VOA)The adults go out only when they think they may find work. But after a month in Turkey, none of them have had any luck. The rent here is less than $70 a month, and the families say they already sold all their belongings to pay smugglers $1,000 per person, roughly the minimum cost to get from Kabul to Van. They borrowed rent money last month and do not know how they will manage in the future.  But as soon as the U.S. announced it would be pulling out, says Saeed Sanaye Sadet, one of the apartment residents, he knew he would never be safe at home again, because he used to work for an American company. We point out that the Taliban have taken over vast swaths of Afghanistan in recent months, but not all of it, and the capital, Kabul, is still held by the government. But Sadet says the fall of the country feels inevitable.  “It’s already happening,” he scoffs, when we ask why he is so sure. Women and girls On the edge of a graveyard in Van, rows of shallow graves cover the bodies of people who died attempting to flee to Turkey.  Many were among the 61 refugees killed in a shipwreck on Lake Van last year. Other graves are identified only by the border-area location where the body was found.  As we drive away from the graveyard, Mohammad Mahdi Sultani, a journalist from Afghanistan who is working with us as a guide and translator, says people have been risking their lives for a long time to escape Afghanistan, which has been at war since the 2001 U.S. invasion.  But the reason people are fleeing is shifting as the Taliban gain ground, he says. His uncle fled his village for Iran because he has two daughters, 19 and 21. When the Taliban came in, they demanded that families place flags outside their houses to indicate whether there were any unwed women or girls inside. Leena Sadet, pictured Aug. 10, 2021, in Van, Turkey, had been a language teacher in Afghanistan before the Taliban took over her area, prompting her to flee the country. (Claire Thomas/VOA)”They say (the Taliban) will marry them,” Sultani says, meaning, by force.  In the crowded apartment up the stairs, Leena Sadet, Saeed Sadet’s wife, says she remembers her mom’s blue burqa from her childhood, when Taliban law forced all women to leave their jobs and go outside only fully covered.  “The same thing will happen if they are in power,” Leena Sadet says. “The women won’t work, and the girls will not go to school.” Mohammad Mahdi Sultani contributed to this report.
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Tens of thousands of people in Afghanistan have fled recent violence in search of safety as the Taliban takes over more territory. Many left everything behind. VOA’s Ayesha Tanzeem is in Kabul, reporting on those who fled fierce fighting in Kunduz.Camera: Rahim Gul Sarwan   Produced by: Jon Spier 
 
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Half-a-dozen European Union countries have told Brussels they want to continue deporting Afghan migrants whose asylum-applications are denied — despite the Taliban’s recent military successes, including overrunning eight of Afghanistan’s provincial capitals in the past week. EU officials told reporters during a briefing Tuesday that they found it inconceivable any EU member states would want to continue with deportations while conflict is raging in Afghanistan and as the Taliban is making major inroads in the wake of the U.S. and NATO withdrawal from the country. But the EU says it is up to the member states what they do, adding to confusion over who has final authority — member states or the European Commission.“Given the context, it is hard to imagine that we would conduct forced return operations for the moment,” an EU official in Brussels said, adding that the continent isn’t facing an imminent major influx of Afghan migrants.Six EU countries sent a joint letter August 5 to the European Commission warning against halting non-voluntary returns of Afghan migrants, arguing any suspension of deportations would act as a migration magnet and “motivate even more Afghan citizens to leave their home for the EU.”Germany, Austria, Denmark, Belgium, the Netherlands and Greece signed the letter. “We would like to highlight the urgent need to perform returns, both voluntary and non-voluntary, to Afghanistan,” the interior ministers of the six countries wrote in their collective letter to the Commission. “Stopping returns sends the wrong signal,” they added. FILE – Afghans who were deported from Germany arrive at Kabul International Airport, Kabul, Afghanistan, Dec. 15, 2016. 
About 1,200 Afghans have been deported from the EU this year — 1,000 agreed to go voluntarily but 200 or had to be forced to go, according to EU officials. Last month, the Afghan government called on European nations to stop deportations, saying it could not cope while also trying to fight the Taliban.Earlier this month the European Court of Human Rights told Austria not to proceed with the expulsion of an Afghan national until at least later in August because of a “risk of irreparable harm” to the asylum-seeker. Austria announced this month it will deploy additional soldiers to its borders with Slovenia and Hungary, boosting the number of its border guards by 40%.European leaders are fearful of a new migration crisis impacting the continent and are negotiating another multi-year migration deal with Turkey to get Ankara to block Afghan and other asylum-seekers from heading their way.FILE – A Turkish-flagged passenger boat carrying migrants to be returned to Turkey leaves the port of Mytilene on the Greek island of Lesbos, April 8, 2016.It would be a renewal of a five-year deal struck in 2016 that saw the EU pay Ankara billions of dollars to curb irregular Europe-bound migration, improve the living conditions of refugees in Turkey, and foster legal migration through official resettlement schemes.Around 2,000 Afghans a day are entering Turkey, and migration experts expect the numbers to surge as the Taliban seizes control of more of Afghanistan.  FILE – German policemen register refugees at the rail station in Freilassing, southern Germany, Sept. 14, 2015, before they take them away in busses.Asked last month at a press conference whether Germany should welcome Afghan refugees, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the architect of the 2015 open-doors policy that saw around a million asylum-seekers settle in Europe, replied: “We cannot solve all of these problems by taking everyone in.” She called instead for political negotiations so “people can live as peacefully as possible in the country.”The head of the U.N.’s International Organization for Migration, Antonio Vitorino, issued a statement Tuesday saying he’s “extremely concerned by the deteriorating situation in Afghanistan — particularly the impact on mobile and displaced populations, including returnees.” He said around 5 million Afghans are already displaced internally. Internally displaced Afghan families, who fled from Kunduz and Takhar province due to battles between Taliban and Afghan security forces, sit in a field in Kabul, Aug. 9, 2021. 
Greek authorities say Afghans now make up the largest share of asylum-seekers who manage to navigate the Aegean from Turkey.Speaking later Tuesday, Adalbert Jahnz, a European Commission spokesman, said each member state would need “to make an individual assessment of whether the return is possible in a specific set of circumstances, that needs to take into account the principles, notably the principle of rule of law and other fundamental rights.”He stressed: “It’s not something that the EU specifically regulates.”Critics, though, are accusing Brussels of being inconsistent in what it claims authority over when it comes to migration. Last week, the Commission was accused of playing post-Brexit politics by sabotaging a bilateral deal being negotiated between London and Paris. The proposed agreement would see France take back migrants who had tried to enter Britain from France by crossing the English Channel on small boats and dinghies. FILE – Migrants who launched from the coast of northern France cross the English Channel in an inflatable boat near Dover, Britain, Aug. 4, 2021.Priti Patel, Britain’s interior minister, and French counterpart Gérald Darmanin inked an initial agreement supporting “the idea of a UK-EU readmission agreement to mutual advantage in terms of deterring illegal migration, protecting the vulnerable, and tackling the criminal gangs.” More than 10,000 asylum-seekers have crossed the Channel so far this year.But the EU has scotched the deal progressing saying any agreement governing migrants is not a matter for the governments of individual member states to decide but for the bloc as a whole.Some information for this report was provided by the Associated Press.  
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Taliban fighters took control of another city in northern Afghanistan on Wednesday, an official said, the eighth provincial capital to fall to the insurgents in six days as U.S.-led foreign forces complete their withdrawal. The Taliban capture of Faizabad, the capital of the northeastern province of Badakhshan, came as President Ashraf Ghani landed in Mazar-i-Sharif to rally its defenders as Taliban forces closed in on the biggest city in the north. In this handout picture taken on August 11, 2021 and released by the Press Office of President of Afghanistan shows Afghanistan’s President Ashraf Ghani (C) arriving at Mazar-i-Sharif. (Photo by Press Office of President of Afghanistan / AFP)After a long battle in Faizabad, government forces retreated to a neighboring district, Jawad Mujadidi, a provincial council member from Badakhshan, told Reuters. He said Taliban fighters had taken most of the province and laid siege to Faizabad before launching an offensive Tuesday. The far northeastern province of Badakhshan borders Tajikistan, Pakistan and China. The loss of the city is the latest setback for the beleaguered government, which has been struggling to stem the momentum of Taliban assaults in the last few months  The Taliban are battling to defeat the U.S.-backed government and reimpose strict Islamic law. The speed of their advance has shocked the government and its allies. Taliban forces now control 65% of Afghanistan, have taken or threaten to take 11 provincial capitals and seek to deprive Kabul of its traditional support from national forces in the north, a senior European Union official said on Tuesday. U.S. President Joe Biden urged Afghan leaders to fight for their homeland, saying on Tuesday he did not regret his decision to withdraw, noting that the United States had spent more than $1 trillion over 20 years and lost thousands of troops.The United States was providing significant air support, food, equipment and salaries to Afghan forces, he said. The north was for years Afghanistan’s most peaceful region, with only a minimal Taliban presence. During their 1996 to 2001 rule, the Taliban were never completely in control of the north but this time, they seem intent on securing it before closing in on the capital. Government officials have appealed for pressure on Pakistan to stop Taliban reinforcements and supplies flowing over the border. Pakistan denies backing the Taliban. The government has withdrawn from hard-to-defend rural districts to focus on holding population centers. In some places, government forces have given up without a fight. Ghani is now appealing for help from the old regional powerbrokers he spent years sidelining as he attempted to project the authority of his central government over traditionally wayward provinces. He will meet key regional leaders in Mazar-i-Sharif. “President Ghani is scheduled to meet local government and security officials, political and jihadi leaders, tribal elders and influential people,” the presidential office said on Twitter. In the south, government forces are battling Taliban fighters trying to reach Kandahar province’s main prison to release detained comrades, officials there said. 
Fighting is also taking place in city of Farah in the west, near the Iranian border, Tolo News reported. In Geneva on Tuesday, U.N. human rights chief Michelle Bachelet said reports of violations that could amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity were emerging, including “deeply disturbing reports” of the summary execution of surrendering government troops. Six EU member states warned the bloc’s executive against halting deportations of rejected Afghan asylum-seekers arriving in Europe, fearing a possible replay of a 2015-16 crisis over the arrival of more than a million migrants, mainly from the Middle East. The United States will complete the withdrawal of its forces this month in exchange for Taliban promises to prevent Afghanistan being used for international terrorism. The Taliban promised not to attack foreign forces as they withdraw but did not agree to a cease-fire with the government. 
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U.S. officials are now acknowledging that the security situation in Afghanistan is rapidly deteriorating. They say they are working around the clock to try to stop the Taliban violence. VOA’s senior diplomatic correspondent Cindy Saine reports.Camera:  Mary Cieslak  
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