Islamabad: Taliban seized control of the capital of Calm And Kunar provinces and launched a major invasion from many directions Mazar-e-Sharif, an important city in the northern Afghanistan.
After capturing the province of Logar, the rebels are now almost on the threshold of Kabul. When the last reports came, they had reached the district of Char Ayyab, 11 km south. accept.
Footage from Sharana, the capital of Paktika and Asadabad, the capital of Kunar, showed people waving Taliban flags and walking on the streets of the two cities. Provincial lawmakers in the Twin Cities confirmed that the intelligence department, the governor’s office, police headquarters and local prisons are now controlled by the rebels. There had been some fighting in Sharana at first but local tribal leaders intervened and negotiated the withdrawal of government forces. The Paktika governor was on his way to Kabul after taking Sharna.
Government officials said that there was heavy fighting on the outskirts in Mazar-i-Sharif, the stronghold of Sardar Abdul Rashid Dostum.
In a pre-recorded message to the nation, beleaguered Afghan President Ashraf Ghani said regrouping Afghan forces was his top priority and vowed to prevent further bloodshed in his country. Ghani said, “I will not allow the imposed war to cause more destruction and casualties. In the current situation, the reorganization of security and defense forces is our top priority and necessary measures are being taken for this purpose.” ”
“I know you are concerned about your present and future, but I assure you, as our President, that my focus is on preventing instability, violence and displacement of my people,” the Afghan president said. “To do this, I have launched extensive consultations with political leaders and international partners within and outside the government, and I will share the results with the people soon,” Ghani said.
However, Afghan analysts believe Ghani is no longer in control. “It’s no longer about President Ghani, it’s about making the transition as bloodless, orderly and as quickly as possible,” Haroon Rahimi, a law professor at the American University of Afghanistan, told the media. “If Kabul comes under pressure, all hope of a political solution will be lost,” he said, suggesting that the Kabul administration should delegate authority to a transitional body to negotiate a power-sharing deal with the Taliban.
The Taliban now controls more than half of the country’s provincial capitals when the US takes control of northern, western and southern Afghanistan less than three weeks after the US withdrew its last troops, prompting the insurgent group or another The likelihood of a complete takeover increases. Afghan Civil War.
With their vast territorial gains, the rebels and their supporters have been sending out the message that normalcy has returned in the provinces under their control.
“Terrorists do not harm security personnel if they surrender voluntarily and the group works for all people regardless of their ethnicity,” one of the messages, perhaps encouraging troops to surrender before the Taliban attack read for the purpose.
It also appears to be an attempt to dispel reports that the group has killed government civilian and military officials in the districts they have occupied and forced girls to marry Taliban fighters.
Top security and intelligence officials that TOI spoke to said that the division of Afghan society on the basis of ethnicity was one of the major factors responsible for the rapid retreat of Afghan forces and the apparent collapse of the war-torn system. Has – destroyed the country for 20 years.
“Except for President Ashraf Ghani and former ruler Hamid Karzai, most Afghan military and civilian officials are non-Pashtuns. Urban non-Pashtuns were already ahead in education, so most teachers, doctors and engineers benefited from American intervention. Two Foreign and local scholarships were given to Afghan students and teachers for decades in the U.S.,” said Zafarullah Khan, a former police and intelligence officer from Pakistan’s northwest region along the Afghan border.
In the past 20 years, the official said, the war against the Taliban was mostly fought by the Afghan National Army with US and NATO troops in Pashtun-majority districts. Khan said, “The Americans could not rely on Pashtuns for enlistment in the military because in several incidents Pashtun soldiers killed their officers or Americans and fled with M16s, suggesting that many Pashtuns were in this way.” had joined the army for the purpose.”
During the peak of the War on Terrorism, the Taliban were running shadow governments in most of the Pashtun-majority provinces in the tribal-style form that has been prevalent in Afghanistan for generations.
Confident of their victory in the Pashtun belt, the Taliban had organized themselves in the northern provinces during the past two decades and began their path to victory from Kunduz, the only Pashtun-dominated province in the north.
“Anyone with knowledge of Afghanistan and the Afghans would know that, as predicted a decade ago, a non-Pashtun army would melt into Pashtun provinces. Afghan forces had no public acceptance of Pashtun territories. Their defeat was inevitable,” appeared. Interaction with Afghan tribal elders and politicians.
After capturing the province of Logar, the rebels are now almost on the threshold of Kabul. When the last reports came, they had reached the district of Char Ayyab, 11 km south. accept.
Footage from Sharana, the capital of Paktika and Asadabad, the capital of Kunar, showed people waving Taliban flags and walking on the streets of the two cities. Provincial lawmakers in the Twin Cities confirmed that the intelligence department, the governor’s office, police headquarters and local prisons are now controlled by the rebels. There had been some fighting in Sharana at first but local tribal leaders intervened and negotiated the withdrawal of government forces. The Paktika governor was on his way to Kabul after taking Sharna.
Government officials said that there was heavy fighting on the outskirts in Mazar-i-Sharif, the stronghold of Sardar Abdul Rashid Dostum.
In a pre-recorded message to the nation, beleaguered Afghan President Ashraf Ghani said regrouping Afghan forces was his top priority and vowed to prevent further bloodshed in his country. Ghani said, “I will not allow the imposed war to cause more destruction and casualties. In the current situation, the reorganization of security and defense forces is our top priority and necessary measures are being taken for this purpose.” ”
“I know you are concerned about your present and future, but I assure you, as our President, that my focus is on preventing instability, violence and displacement of my people,” the Afghan president said. “To do this, I have launched extensive consultations with political leaders and international partners within and outside the government, and I will share the results with the people soon,” Ghani said.
However, Afghan analysts believe Ghani is no longer in control. “It’s no longer about President Ghani, it’s about making the transition as bloodless, orderly and as quickly as possible,” Haroon Rahimi, a law professor at the American University of Afghanistan, told the media. “If Kabul comes under pressure, all hope of a political solution will be lost,” he said, suggesting that the Kabul administration should delegate authority to a transitional body to negotiate a power-sharing deal with the Taliban.
The Taliban now controls more than half of the country’s provincial capitals when the US takes control of northern, western and southern Afghanistan less than three weeks after the US withdrew its last troops, prompting the insurgent group or another The likelihood of a complete takeover increases. Afghan Civil War.
With their vast territorial gains, the rebels and their supporters have been sending out the message that normalcy has returned in the provinces under their control.
“Terrorists do not harm security personnel if they surrender voluntarily and the group works for all people regardless of their ethnicity,” one of the messages, perhaps encouraging troops to surrender before the Taliban attack read for the purpose.
It also appears to be an attempt to dispel reports that the group has killed government civilian and military officials in the districts they have occupied and forced girls to marry Taliban fighters.
Top security and intelligence officials that TOI spoke to said that the division of Afghan society on the basis of ethnicity was one of the major factors responsible for the rapid retreat of Afghan forces and the apparent collapse of the war-torn system. Has – destroyed the country for 20 years.
“Except for President Ashraf Ghani and former ruler Hamid Karzai, most Afghan military and civilian officials are non-Pashtuns. Urban non-Pashtuns were already ahead in education, so most teachers, doctors and engineers benefited from American intervention. Two Foreign and local scholarships were given to Afghan students and teachers for decades in the U.S.,” said Zafarullah Khan, a former police and intelligence officer from Pakistan’s northwest region along the Afghan border.
In the past 20 years, the official said, the war against the Taliban was mostly fought by the Afghan National Army with US and NATO troops in Pashtun-majority districts. Khan said, “The Americans could not rely on Pashtuns for enlistment in the military because in several incidents Pashtun soldiers killed their officers or Americans and fled with M16s, suggesting that many Pashtuns were in this way.” had joined the army for the purpose.”
During the peak of the War on Terrorism, the Taliban were running shadow governments in most of the Pashtun-majority provinces in the tribal-style form that has been prevalent in Afghanistan for generations.
Confident of their victory in the Pashtun belt, the Taliban had organized themselves in the northern provinces during the past two decades and began their path to victory from Kunduz, the only Pashtun-dominated province in the north.
“Anyone with knowledge of Afghanistan and the Afghans would know that, as predicted a decade ago, a non-Pashtun army would melt into Pashtun provinces. Afghan forces had no public acceptance of Pashtun territories. Their defeat was inevitable,” appeared. Interaction with Afghan tribal elders and politicians.
.