The Taliban’s advance is unstoppable and the capture of the capital of Afghanistan is imminent

The Taliban rebel offensive in Afghanistan is advancing towards Kabul with the good supplies abandoned by NATO and the United States in retreat. Jeeps Humvees, armored vehicles, anti-aircraft guns, artillery, tanks, M16 rifles and ammunition.

In bases where pro-government forces fled or surrendered and in fallen towns, militiamen found dead planes, helicopters and jets.

They have few pilots to lead them but are ready to train them, when the afghan air force has been disbanded because the pilots desert for fear of reprisals against their families.

“Our militiamen can use American tanks, remote controlled drones and we recently captured a helicopter at Kunduz airport, which is not fit to fly. Our men cannot fly helicopters. But we have few members who know how to fly airplanes. If we have control of more air bases, we will certainly train our men to fly jets, helicopters and planes, ”said Mujahid, the main spokesperson for the Taliban.

Islamist fighters advanced up to 80 kilometers from the capital Kabul on Friday morning after capturing more key Afghan cities overnight.

Evacuation at full speed

Western governments were preparing to evacuate their citizens from the country. The American Embassy has moved to the airport. British diplomats left their residences for “a safe place” as 600 British soldiers, led by special forces and paratroopers, arrived to begin the evacuation.

3,000 other American soldiers must disembark to evacuate theirs. The question is whether they will arrive on time, when the resistance of government forces to the Taliban gives way and thousands of soldiers surrender or join the Islamist ranks.

Ambassador Sir Laurie Bristow has been moved to an undisclosed place of safety not far from the current US Embassy, ​​the size of a city in Kabul.

Dizzying advance of the rebels

After taking Kandahar, Afghanistan’s second city and former capital of the Taliban regime, the insurgents advanced into Logar province. They stormed the provincial capital Puli Alam, took the police headquarters and freed hundreds of prisoners from the local prison.

The meteoric advance of the Taliban brought down at least a dozen major cities to insurgents in just one week.

The offensive caused panic in Kabul, as the fears that the capital will fall in a few days.

Their attack began after the United States withdrew its troops from the country, under an agreement reached last year between President Donald Trump’s administration and the Taliban that promised peace in exchange for withdrawal. .

It has not been completed. The Taliban have started their offensive on the ground, have advanced on provincial capitals and are now heading towards the capital Kabul.

In Puli Alam, residents saw Taliban fighters entering the city on motorcycles, finding little resistance by government troops. The activists’ white flag was hoisted throughout the city. Loudspeakers at local mosques were ordered to give orders.

“I stand next to my house and watch the Taliban outside, walking the streets,” said one resident.

“They announced over loudspeakers that those who work for the government must stay at home and will be safe,” he said. People are terrified of retaliation and that the Taliban will behave brutally, relying on Islamic sjharia.

Torture, massacres and more atrocities

Reports from atrocities and summary executions Hundreds of government workers and captured soldiers have spilled over since the Taliban launched their offensive in May.

Some captured local officials appear to have been beheaded or tortured to death.

Taliban fighters captured Herat, Afghanistan’s third largest city, as well as Kandahar as they approached the capital, Kabul.

Twist in the strategy

As resistance from government forces crumbled and cities began to fall by the day, the Taliban appear to have taken a softer line, offering sorry to the troops who surrender to accelerate the collapse.

The tactic proved effective, with hundreds of Afghan soldiers laying down their arms rather than fighting, some encouraging their comrades to do the same. Many officers fled to save their families.

But no one guarantees that the Taliban militiamen will not act brutally, whatever the strategy of their bosses. There are already reports of government soldiers being dragged through villages in vans, killings and beheadings.

Families also flee in terror as militiamen go door to door and steal women and teenage girls as sex slaves.

Behavior of ISIS terrorists. Jihadist foreigners have infiltrated from Pakistan among the Taliban, in particular the British of Pakistani origin, according to wiretaps by British intelligence services.

Gulbuddin, another resident of Puli Alam, said government workers remained wary of the Taliban’s offer of surrender and amnesty.

However, they were terrified by reports of suspected opponents being killed by militants in other states. “Many local officials were in hiding or had fled to Kabul,” he said.

“The Taliban amnesty is good for now. This calmed the situation, but there is no guarantee, ”he said. But he remarked: “Later they will kill whoever they want.

Triumphant return

On Thursday evening, the Taliban announced their triumphant return to the Kandahar, cradle and spiritual home of the Islamist movement.

Afghan troops and local militias held out in the southern city for three weeks of heavy fighting.

But images surfaced of columns of armored vehicles leaving Kandahar on Thursday as government resistance crumbled.

Insurgents reject Afghan government power-sharing deal, in exchange for a ceasefire, saying that they would only accept peace in exchange for a new Islamic emirate.

Details of the deal proposed by negotiators in Qatar, where renewed efforts are underway to revive peace talks, have not been made public.

Rejection of a “government of peace”

Ghulam Farooq Majrooh, a negotiator for Afghan President Ghani, said the Taliban had been called on to form a “government of peace”.

Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said the movement rejected “the government’s call for a ceasefire.” He insisted that the insurgents would only accept peace “if an Islamic government was established”. They demand the departure of President Ghani.

The pro-government Afghan forces were well trained but could not receive ammunition, food, reinforcements or air support. Surrender has become the inevitable path. Since 2014, 45,000 government forces have been killed fighting a 75,000-strong Taliban force.

The group has always rejected Ghani’s legitimacy, calling him an “American puppet”.

In March, the government rejected a US power-sharing deal. Taliban will view Ghani’s latest offer as “a sign of desperation” after string of devastating military defeats this week, as the insurgents rapidly approach Kabul.

“The Taliban will not accept Kabul’s offer to share power and a ceasefire. Our goal is to end foreign intervention and an Islamic government will be formed in this country, ”said Mujahid, the spokesperson for the Taliban.

“If they accept this offer, we are ready for a ceasefire. If Kabul is not ready to accept our demands, then it will not be difficult for us to fight and to continue our jihad (holy war) ”, declared the spokesman of the Taliban.

Rotten agreement

The American withdrawal from Afghanistan is a “mistake” and “will lead to the resurgence of Al-Qaeda, which represents a threat to the West,” warned British Secretary of Defense Ben Wallace.

Ben Wallace said the West “will likely pay for the consequences” of the decision to withdraw from Afghanistan. He pointed a critical finger at Donald Trump, the former US president, and called the agreement he made with the Taliban on the withdrawal “rotten”.

“At the time of Trump’s deal with the Taliban, I thought it was a mistake to do so. Everyone in the international community will likely pay the consequences. I think the deal that was reached in Doha was a rotten deal, ”he said.

“I’ve been pretty blunt about this publicly and it’s pretty rare when it comes to American decisions. But strategically it causes a lot of problems, ”Wallace told Sky News in London.

“I am absolutely concerned that failed states are breeding grounds for such people. This is why I felt that it was not the right moment or the right decision to take because probably Al-Qaeda will return, “warned the British Minister of Defense.

British MP Tom Tugendhat, chairman of the Special Foreign Affairs Committee and former military veteran of Helmand, wrote on Twitter: “A rushed departure is not a sign of success. Needing backup to keep the door open when leaving is a sure sign of failure. “

The Conservative MP, who openly criticized the pullout, referred to his own time in the military in Afghanistan.

“The decision to retire is like a carpet under the feet of our partners,” he said.

Lord Richards, a former British warlord, told Newsnight on the BBC: “This is a tacit, explicit admission of failure. Of a serious and regrettable failure of geostrategy and the art of governing “.

US President Joe Biden’s decision was a catastrophic miscalculation, the price of which will be global insecurity and the total destabilization of Afghanistan.

The Afghan people will never forget, after 20 years of occupation, the education of their children, certain women’s rights. They will pay for it with their lives and fear of reverting to medieval practices.

Paris, correspondent

CB