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The United States on Monday showed no signs of stepping up airstrikes in Afghanistan despite accelerating Taliban gains there. A Pentagon spokesperson pointed out that Americans now see the fight as a fight for Afghan political and military leaders to win or lose.
“When we look back, it will depend on the leadership and what leadership has been shown or not,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said at a press conference. “It is their country to defend now. This is their fight.
The comments moving the United States further away from the conflict came as Taliban militants captured two other provincial capitals on Monday in a push across much of Afghanistan, after taking large swathes of land mainly in the countryside. rural.
U.S. officials said on Monday that military commanders bluntly exposed their assessments that conditions in Afghanistan are deteriorating. Afghan special operations forces succeeded in pushing back the Taliban in key centers, including Kandahar and Lashkar Gah, they said. But in places where commandos were not sent, regular army forces were overwhelmed.
Army Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, spoke with his commander-in-chief in the Middle East, General Frank McKenzie, on Monday, officials said. But the defense and military leaders have not provided any new recommendations to strengthen US operations defending the Afghans. The United States has launched up to a handful of airstrikes a day against the Taliban, and officials said there had not yet been orders to increase that pace.
Senior officials from the White House National Security Council, State Department and Defense Department were in close contact with officials at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul on Sunday to assess the wider impact of the fall of Kunduz, the biggest and most important takeover of the Taliban, according to a top administration. official.
The administration official said, however, that the Biden administration remained determined to stick to its plan to end the US war in Afghanistan by the end of the month despite the Taliban’s quick strategic gains.
Officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the ongoing private deliberations.
Kirby admitted that the battle on the ground “is clearly not going in the right direction.”
On Monday, three weeks and one day away from the United States to end its 19-year combat mission in Afghanistan, Taliban militias ousted from power by the 2001 American invasion regained control of five of the country’s 34 provincial capitals .
After routing the al-Qaida plotters of the September 11 attacks on the United States in the early years of the war, the United States and its NATO allies remained for many years thereafter. , in part in hopes of fostering a Kabul-based government and army capable of resisting the Taliban once Western forces finally withdrew.
President Joe Biden has said he is honoring a withdrawal agreement President Donald Trump made with the Taliban. But Biden has made it clear that he is also determined to pull American forces out of their longest war.
The United States continues to launch airstrikes from other parts of the region in an attempt to help Afghan ground forces repel Taliban fighters emboldened by the US withdrawal. There are no US attack planes in Afghanistan, as the withdrawal of US troops continues. Thus, American warplanes travel several hours apart to reach their targets.
Kirby declined to say how many airstrikes US planes have carried out in recent days. And he declined to say whether the Biden administration could continue with the airstrikes after Biden’s Aug. 31 withdrawal date, given the Taliban’s advance.
In the meantime, “we will continue to support them… where and when possible, knowing that it will not always be feasible,” Kirby said of the Afghan government and military leaders.
The Biden administration said it would continue to support the Afghan army financially and logistically, including with contractors helping to maintain the government’s air force, outside of Afghanistan, after withdrawal.
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Associated Press writer Aamer Madhani contributed to this report.
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