The United States will send 3,000 soldiers to Afghanistan to guarantee the evacuation of its diplomats

Pentagon spokesman John Kirby at a press conference Thursday.Andrew Harnik / AP

The Taliban offensive in Afghanistan, which after a week of all-out violence stalks the capital, Kabul, has increased the pressure on Washington from both a political and human point of view, on the ground itself.

The Joe Biden Administration has decided to reduce most of the staff in the Embassy and send around 3,000 soldiers to the area to ensure the safety of the evacuation of American civilians, while maintaining its plan to complete the military withdrawal from the country on 31 December. August.

More information

• The Taliban strengthen their power in the cities in an unstoppable offensive in Afghanistan

• Biden: "Afghans must fight for their nation themselves"

Pentagon spokesman John Kirby announced the move on Thursday, the same day that the radical fundamentalist group has conquered Herat, the third largest city in Afghanistan, in the west of the country. Before, Ghazni, a strategic city only 150 kilometers from Kabul, had done it. In total, 11 provincial capitals have succumbed to the Taliban attack within a week, in an escalation of war that has demonstrated the inadequacy of the Afghan Army without the support of the United States and NATO allies, all in the phase of abandonment.

"We have worked hard to improve the competence and capacity [of the Afghan security forces] on the ground but there comes a time when this capacity is a matter for the Afghans," Kirby said at a press conference, underlining With those words, the message to which Biden clings to a complicated decision, that of ending his campaign in Afghanistan after 20 years and leaving the Afghan Government and Army to deal practically alone with the threat of the Taliban.

After leaving the Bagram air base, near Kabul and the last active used by the US Army, Washington only maintained a checkpoint of 650 soldiers to protect the Kabul airport and its embassy in the capital.

The spokesman for the State Department, Ned Price, reported this Thursday of the evacuation of a good part of the personnel of the legislation, although he did not specify the figures and limited himself to pointing out that there would be a basic team to continue with the diplomatic and consular services.

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