Hunger Grips Millions as Afghanistan Falls to Taliban Insurgents

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Lisa Schlein
VOA News
August 14, 2021

GENEVA – The World Food Program is warning of a dramatic rise in the number of hungry people in Afghanistan as fighting and displacement in the war-torn country intensify.

A United Nations assessment of the food security and nutrition situation in Afghanistan finds one in three Afghans face acute food insecurity. That means an estimated 14 million people in the war-torn country are barely able to meet their daily minimum food needs.

Because of the dire situation, the World Food Program says malnutrition levels are soaring, and some 2 million children need nutrition treatment to survive.

WFP spokesman Tomson Phiri says the Afghan people are facing both an artificial and natural disaster, rendering them unable to feed their families.  He says a poor harvest is projected as the country has been hit by a second drought in four years.

“We fear the worst is yet to come and a larger tide of hunger is fast approaching,” Phiri said. “It is not a secret the situation has worsened and is becoming increasingly unpredictable.  The conflict has accelerated much faster than we all anticipated.  And the situation has all the hallmarks of a humanitarian catastrophe.”

Since the U.S. and NATO have accelerated their troop withdrawal from the country, Taliban insurgents have seized more than half of Afghanistan’s 34 provincial capitals.  The militant group reportedly is closing in on the capital, Kabul.

While the drama is playing out, the hunger levels and suffering of the Afghan people are growing.  Phiri says the WFP has provided food aid to more than 4 million people in the last three months.

Given the magnitude of the emergency, he says the WFP is planning to more than double the number of beneficiaries and hopes to reach 9 million people by December.

“Fighting has posed difficulties in moving humanitarian workers and assistance around the country,” Phiri said. “Aid workers are working under extraordinary circumstances in Afghanistan.  Notwithstanding the challenges, the World Food Program’s plan is to preposition food closest to peoples’ homes.”

The WFP has food stocks in warehouses across the country and a fleet of trucks to transport them but is appealing for $200 million to help pay for the operation.

‘People Are Terrified’: Panic Sweeps Kabul As Taliban Moves Toward Afghan Capital

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By Frud Bezhan
RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi
August 14, 2021

KABUL — The road to Kabul’s international airport is clogged with thousands of people who are rushing to leave the country.

Thousands of others stand in long queues, stretching for kilometers, outside the capital’s only passport office, desperately trying to secure travel documents.

Others frantically rush around downtown Kabul, a city of some 5 million people, running last-minute errands before fleeing their homes.

The fear and panic gripping Kabul is palpable as the Taliban militant group marches on the capital following a devastating, monthslong military offensive during which it has seized large swaths of the war-torn country.

“It’s a feeling of shock and sadness compounded by brutal uncertainty,” says Timor Sharan, a former civil servant and the director of the Afghanistan Policy Lab, a Kabul-based think tank. “Shopping in the city today, I felt people were gripped by a sense of being stuck; stuck in an uncertain future and never able to dream, aspire, think, and believe anymore.”

The Taliban has captured 20 of Afghanistan’s 34 provincial capitals as of late on August 14 and seized control of over half of the country’s roughly 400 districts in a blistering campaign since the start of the final withdrawal of foreign troops on May 1.

After effectively seizing control of Afghanistan’s west, south, and most of the north, the extremist group is advancing on Kabul, directly threatening the survival of the internationally-backed central government. Residents fear a bloody Taliban takeover of the city and the prospect of living under the brutal, oppressive rule of the fundamentalist Islamist group.

“People are terrified,” says Jawid Ahmadi, a Kabul resident. “On the streets and bazaars, every single person is talking about how to leave Afghanistan.”

Ahmadi says he applied for passports for his family of four. It is a process that usually requires three working days but now takes up to three months, he says. The fee for a passport has also soared, from around $80 several months ago to almost $500 — a huge price for many Afghans.

Some 20,000 to 30,000 Afghans are fleeing abroad every week, according to the International Organization for Migration, which says that as many as 1.5 million Afghans could flee westward this year.

Meanwhile, the price of some food staples like flour has surged by 30 percent, while gas prices have almost doubled in recent weeks, even as poverty spreads and a humanitarian crisis worsens.

Fear Of Taliban Attack

Kabul residents express mounting fears over a possible Taliban military assault on the densely populated city, a worst-case scenario that would lead to lead to wide-scale casualties and destruction.

“A Taliban military takeover of Kabul would result in the loss of everything that was gained in the last 20 years,” says Haroun Rahimi, an assistant professor of law at the American University of Afghanistan in Kabul. “It would also be very bloody,” he adds. “People are not only scared of losing their rights but also afraid of dying.”

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani on August 14 said his “focus is on preventing further instability, violence, and displacement of my people,” as pressure grew on him to resign, a move that might end the fighting and pave the way for an interim government that includes the Taliban.

His comments came as the insurgents advanced on Kabul.

The Taliban seized Pul-e Alam, the provincial capital of Logar Province, on August 13. The city is just 70 kilometers from Kabul.

The next day the Taliban had captured the entire province. Hoda Ahmadi, a lawmaker from Logar, said the militants had reached Chahar Asyab, a strategic district in Kabul Province that lies just 11 kilometers south of the city’s borders.

During the country’s devastating civil war in the 1990s, Hekmatyar Gulbuddin, one of the country’s most notorious ex-warlords and a former militant leader, used Chahar Asyab as a base from which to indiscriminately fire thousands of rockets at Kabul that killed tens of thousands of people.

Repressive Laws

There is also dread among residents in Kabul, which has witnessed major social, economic, and democratic gains over the past 20 years, that their hard-won rights will be rolled back.

The extremist group has reimposed many of the repressive laws and retrograde policies that defined its brutal 1996-2001 rule, when the Islamist group gained notoriety for oppressing women, massacring ethnic and religious minorities, and publicly executing alleged criminals.

In many new areas under its control, the Taliban has forced women to cover themselves from head to toe in a burqa, banned them from working outside the home, severely limited girls’ education, and required women to be accompanied by a male relative if they leave their homes.

There have also been several reports of young women being forced to marry Taliban fighters.

Meanwhile, men have been banned from trimming or shaving their beards. They have also been forced to pray five times a day, while listening to music and watching television are again outlawed in some areas.

Human rights groups and the Afghan government have also reported summary executions taking place of government officials and captured Afghan soldiers.

After seizing control of the western city of Herat on August 12, Taliban fighters paraded two alleged looters through the streets, with black char smeared on their faces.

In the southern city of Kandahar, which was also captured on August 12, the insurgents were reported to have forced nine female employees of a bank to leave and warned them not to return to their jobs. They were escorted home.

Written by Frud Bezhan in Prague with contributions from RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi correspondents in Afghanistan. Their names are being withheld for their safety.

Copyright (c) 2021. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave NW, Ste 400, Washington DC 20036.

Afghan President Vows Not To Give Up ‘Achievements’ Amid Heavy Fighting In North

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Ashraf Ghani

By RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi
August 14, 2021

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has vowed not to give up the “achievements” of the last 20 years as the Taliban attacked a major northern city and were reported making advances elsewhere.

Ghani’s first public appearance on August 14 came as the Taliban launched an assault on Mazar-e Sharif and were reported to have seized control of two more provincial capitals as well as a city not far from Kabul.

In his brief televised address on August 14, Ghani said he was consulting with local leaders and international partners on the situation in the country. He did not announce his resignation, something that some observers had speculated was possible.

“As your president, my focus is on preventing further instability, violence and displacement of my people,” Ghani said, and that the “remobilization of armed forces is a top priority.”

His remarks came hours after reports that Taliban militants had launched a major assault on Mazar-e Sharif, a major northern city located around 100 kilometers from the border with Uzbekistan.

Zabihullah Mujahid, a Taliban spokesman, told RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi that the city was under Taliban attack from four directions. That was later confirmed by Munir Ahmad Farhad, a spokesman for the provincial governor in northern Balkh Province, where Mazar-e Sharif is located.

Balkh police spokesman Adel Shah Adel told Radio Azadi that the clashes took place in three areas and that air strikes had been carried out on Taliban positions. Adel said the Taliban had suffered heavy casualties.

Ghani flew to Mazar-e Sharif — a city of some 500,000 — on August 11 to rally the city’s defenses, meeting with several militia commanders, including Abdul Rashid Dostum and Ata Mohammad Noor, who command thousands of fighters.

The fighting around Mazar-e Sharif came amid news that Sharana, capital of the southeastern Paktika Province, had been overrun on August 14 by Taliban militants, local officials told Radio Azadi. Taliban fighters later captured Asadabad, the capital of the eastern Kunar Province as well.

Taliban fighters have made major advances in recent days, including capturing Herat and Kandahar, the country’s second- and third-largest cities. They now control 20 of Afghanistan’s 34 provinces, leaving Ghani’s Western-backed government in control of a smattering of provinces in the center and east, as well as Kabul.

The Taliban meanwhile released a video announcing the takeover of the main radio station in the southern city of Kandahar, renaming it the Voice of Sharia, or Islamic law.

In the video, an unnamed insurgent said all employees were present and would broadcast news, political analysis, and recitations of the Koran, the Islamic holy book. It appears the station will no longer play music.

The first Marines from a contingent of 3,000 have arrived in Kabul to help partially evacuate the U.S. Embassy and secure the city’s airport.

Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said that most of the 3,000 additional troops will be in place by August 15 and “will be able to move thousands per day” out of Afghanistan.

Kirby acknowledged on August 13 that it appeared Taliban fighters were trying to isolate the city, but said the capital was not “in an imminent threat environment.”

The Taliban’s rapid offensive has picked up pace as U.S.-led international troops aim to complete their withdrawal by August 31. The deadline was set after U.S. President Joe Biden announced in April that he was ending U.S. involvement in the war after nearly 20 years.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on August 13 expressed concern about the situation and urged the Taliban to halt their offensive and “negotiate in good faith.”

“The message from the international community to those on the warpath must be clear: seizing power through military force is a losing proposition. That can only lead to prolonged civil war or to the complete isolation of Afghanistan,” Guterres said.

Guterres also said he was “deeply disturbed” by accounts of poor treatment of women in areas seized by the Taliban.

“It is particularly horrifying and heartbreaking to see reports of the hard-won rights of Afghan girls and women being ripped away,” Guterres said.

With reporting by AFP, AP, BBC, and Reuters

Copyright (c) 2021. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave NW, Ste 400, Washington DC 20036.

Reports: US embassy in Kabul tells staff to destroy sensitive documents

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Press TV
August 13, 2021

The US embassy in Afghanistan’s capital has directed its staff to destroy sensitive documents and computers as well as other material that could be used against the United States, according to American media outlets.

The directive was given in a memo written for staff at the US embassy in Kabul and shared with NPR on the condition of anonymity.

The memo called on diplomats to destroy computers and other sensitive documents before they leave, as well as items featuring the American flag, embassy logos, and other articles that “could be misused in propaganda efforts,” CNN reported.

The memo comes as the Taliban are reportedly preparing to attack Kabul.  It also comes one day after the Pentagon announced it was deploying 3,000 American troops to Afghanistan to evacuate most of the embassy personnel from Kabul, leaving only “a core diplomatic presence” in the country.

“Let me be very clear about this: The embassy remains open and we plan to continue our diplomatic work in Afghanistan,” Ned Price, the State Department’s chief spokesman, said Thursday.

The Biden administration announced on Thursday that it will evacuate all but a “core” staff from the American Embassy in Kabul.

The US military is deploying 3,000 troops back to Afghanistan to help with the evacuation. They will be stationed at the Kabul airport.

“We’re taking the situation seriously and that’s one of the reasons why we’re moving these forces into Kabul to assist with this particular mission because we know that time is a precious commodity,” Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said on Friday.

He confirmed the US is deploying troops around the Kabul airport, adding that the US military is prepared to airlift “thousands” of people, who include both American diplomats and Afghans who have applied for Special Immigrant Visas.

Rapid Taliban gains ‘deeply concerning’ to US

The Pentagon said on Friday the Taliban’s rapid takeover of large parts of Afghanistan is “deeply concerning” to the United States after the militants seized the country’s second-and third-biggest cities.

According to reports, the possibility the capital Kabul could fall in the next weeks has grown stronger with the Taliban’s gains, and that the fall of the government in Kabul could happen much more quickly than previously anticipated.

Kirby acknowledged the Taliban are trying to isolate Kabul. “We are certainly concerned by the speed with which the Taliban has been moving,” Kirby told reporters.

“We’re obviously watching this just like you’re watching this and seeing it happen in real-time, and it’s deeply concerning,” he added. “This is a moment for the Afghans to unite, the leadership and the military. No outcome has to be inevitable.”

The US invaded Afghanistan in October 2001 and removed the Taliban from power. American forces occupied the country for about 20 years on the pretext of fighting against the Taliban. But as the US forces are leaving Afghanistan, the Taliban are set to invade Kabul, weakened by foreign occupation.

The Taliban on Friday solidified its sweep through Afghanistan’s north, south, and west weeks before the official end of the US military occupation of the country. The Taliban now control most of Afghanistan’s 34 provincial capitals and about two-thirds of the country as a whole.

On Friday, the Taliban claimed control of the capital of Logar province, putting them just about 80 kilometers away from Kabul, the capital of the country.

Kirby claimed that the Afghan capital is “not, right now, in an imminent threat environment.”

Still, Kirby said, the Taliban “clearly” is “trying to isolate Kabul.”

“What they want to do if they achieve that isolation, I think, only they can speak to,” he added. “But you can see a certain effort to isolate Kabul. It is not unlike the way they’ve operated in other places of the country, isolating provincial capitals and sometimes being able to force surrender without necessarily much bloodshed.”

Kirby also stated that Afghan forces still have the capacity to repel the Taliban attack.

“They have greater numbers. They have an air force. A capable air force, which, oh, by the way, is flying more airstrikes than we are, every day. They have modern equipment. They have an organizational structure. They have the benefit of the training that we have provided them over 20 years. They have the material, the physical, the tangible advantages,” Kirby said. “It’s time now to use those advantages.”

The Taliban has been pushing back the Afghan military and overtaking significant areas of territory as American troops withdraw from the country following 20 years of war there.

An Afghan government official confirmed on Friday that Kandahar, the most important city in the south, was under the control of the Taliban as occupying forces complete their withdrawal.

Related

Afghan Women Forced from Banking Jobs as Taliban Take Control

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Reuters: 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. Click here to read more (external link).

Related

Iran Expresses Concern, West Draws Down Embassy Staff Over Taliban Advances In Afghanistan

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Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
August 13, 2021

Iran is calling on the Taliban to ensure the safety of its diplomats and staff at its consulate in the western Afghan city of Herat, as Western embassies and aid groups are evacuating staff from Afghanistan.

The Taliban has seized Kandahar; the country’s second-biggest city, Herat; and a string of other Afghan provincial capitals in recent days as international forces withdraw from the country after a two-decade presence, raising fears of the collapse of the Western-backed government in Kabul.

“The Islamic republic is concerned over the escalating violence in Afghanistan, and in light of the Taliban taking control of Herat, calls for guarantees of complete safety for its diplomatic missions and the lives of its staff,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh tweeted on August 13.

Khatibzadeh said the ministry was “in contact” with its staff in the city, which lies just 115 kilometers from the Iranian border.

Shi’ite-dominated Iran, which has long been wary of the Sunni Muslim Taliban, has closed its consulates in Herat and the northern city of Mazar-e Sharif over security fears.

The Iranian Foreign Ministry’s West Asia chief, Rusoul Mosavi, said staff in Herat were inside the mission and that “the forces that now control the city gave guarantees of full protection for the consulate, diplomats, and other staff,” the official IRNA news agency reported.

In 1998, when Afghanistan was ruled by the Taliban, its militants killed at least eight Iranian diplomats and an Iranian journalist at the consulate in Mazar-e Sharif in an incident that nearly triggered an Iranian military intervention.

As the Taliban’s rapid advance sent shock waves through the international community, the Taliban said in a statement that “diplomats and staff of embassies, consulates, and institutions, whether foreign or domestic, will not only be safe from the Islamic emirate, but will also be provided with an atmosphere of security and trust.”

The U.S. military said it would send about 3,000 extra troops within 48 hours to help evacuate U.S. Embassy staff, while Britain said it would deploy around 600 troops to help its citizens leave.

Meanwhile, Denmark’s Embassy in Kabul is closing temporarily, and Danish television quoted Foreign Minister Jeppe Kofod as saying that staff were being evacuated.

“We have decided to temporarily close our embassy in Kabul,” Kofod told journalists, adding that the evacuation would be closely coordinated with Norway, with which it shares a compound.

Norwegian Foreign Minister Ine Soreide said it would also shut its embassy and evacuate Norwegian diplomats, local employees, and their close relatives.

Sigrid Kaag, foreign minister of the Netherlands, said it would keep its embassy open as long as possible, but a ministry spokesman confirmed a drawdown was under way.

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said Berlin was reducing its embassy staff to “the operationally necessary, absolute minimum,” and that a “crisis support team” was being sent immediately to the Afghan capital to increase security at the diplomatic mission.

Planned charter flights would be brought forward to fly diplomats and local staff working for the embassy out of the country, Maas told reporters.

With reporting by Reuters, AFP, and AP

Copyright (c) 2021. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave NW, Ste 400, Washington DC 20036.

Republican lawmakers condemn Biden over Afghanistan situation

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Joe Biden

Press TV
August 13, 2021

Republican members of the US Congress have slammed President Joe Biden over withdrawing troops from Afghanistan after Taliban militants have seized the country’s second-and third-biggest cities as resistance from American-trained government forces crumbled.

The US invaded Afghanistan in October 2001 and removed the Taliban from power. American forces occupied the country for about 20 years on the pretext of fighting against the Taliban. But as the US forces are leaving Afghanistan the Taliban are set to invade Kabul because the foreign occupation has weakened the country.

An Afghan government official confirmed on Friday that Kandahar, the most important city in the south, was under Taliban control as occupying forces complete their withdrawal after 20 years of war.

According to reports, the possibility that the capital Kabul could fall in the next several weeks has grown stronger with the Taliban’s gains, and that the fall of the government in Kabul could happen much more quickly than previously anticipated.

Several Republican lawmakers said on Friday that Biden’s strategy has led to the collapse of the country.

Rep. Michael Waltz (R-Fla.) said in an op-ed published on Fox News that the situation in Afghanistan was “heartbreaking and infuriating.”

“The Taliban are barreling towards seizing control of the country and could very well take Kabul before the 20th anniversary of September 11th. In their wake, Al Qaeda is poised to come roaring back and attack America, once again,” Waltz wrote.

Critics said that the US war and withdrawal from Iraq under former Democratic President Obama led to the rise of the Daesh terrorists and the same might happen in Afghanistan.

“It’s unclear whether Biden is clueless or heartless or both. But he is living up to his reputation of being ‘wrong on nearly every major foreign policy and national security issue over the past four decades,’ as described by former Defense Secretary Robert Gates,” Waltz wrote.

Hawkish Republican Senator Tom Cotton from Arkansas censured Biden on Friday over Afghanistan and critical race theory, a favorite issue of conservatives.

“It’s clear President Biden and his Department of Defense have been more concerned with critical race theory and other woke policies than planning an orderly withdrawal from Afghanistan,” Cotton tweeted.

US Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has already called on Biden to provide more air support for Afghanistan forces.

“Here’s what should happen now. President Biden should immediately commit to providing more support to Afghan forces, starting with close air support beyond August 31st. Without it, al Qaeda and the Taliban may celebrate the 20th anniversary of the September 11 attacks by burning down our Embassy in Kabul,” McConnell said in a statement on Thursday.

The senator said that the country was “careening toward a massive, predictable, and preventable disaster.”

“And the Administration’s surreal efforts to defend President Biden’s reckless policy are frankly humiliating,” he continued.

The Taliban has been pushing back the Afghan military, and overtaking significant areas of territory as American troops withdraw from the country following 20 years of war there.

America’s top military general said last month the Taliban appear to have “strategic momentum” in their sweeping offensives across Afghanistan, as the militants continue to gain more ground in the country.

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley said that the Taliban controls about 212 of Afghanistan’s 419 district centers, indicating the Taliban’s success.

Al-Qaida Will Return to Afghanistan, British Official Says

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Al Qaeda leader, Ayman al-Zawahri

Jamie Dettmer
VOA News
August 13, 2021

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.

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.

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.

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.

Biden 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.