The Taliban are getting closer on Sunday to the complete seizure of power in Afghanistan, after a military campaign of astonishing speed which leaves them only Kabul, the isolated and surrounded capital, to conquer.
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Insurgents seized the eastern city of Jalalabad without resistance on Sunday, hours after taking Mazar-i-Sharif, the fourth largest city in Afghanistan and the main urban center in the north of the country.
“
We woke up this morning with the white Taliban flags all over town.
They are in the city.
They entered without a fight,
”Ahmad Wali, a resident of Jalalabad, told AFP.
Read also: Afghanistan: the Taliban seize the city of Mazar-i-Sharif
In just ten days, the Taliban, which launched their offensive in May with the start of the final withdrawal of American and foreign troops, took control of the vast majority of the country and reached the gates of Kabul, now completely circled.
A handful of minor towns are still under government control.
But they are dispersed and cut off from the capital, and no longer have great strategic value.
Total rout
The rout is total for the Afghan security forces, yet funded for 20 years with hundreds of billions of dollars by the United States, and for the government of President Ashraf Ghani. Saturday, the head of state had said to make the "
remobilization (of) security and defense forces
" the "
number one priority
". But his message, obviously, has hardly been heard.
He finds himself with no other option than to have to choose between capitulating and resigning, or continuing the fight to save Kabul, at the risk of being responsible for a bloodbath.
However, he added on Saturday that "
consultations
" were underway to find a "
political solution
" guaranteeing peace and stability.
In the evening, the presidential palace specified that a delegation would be "
soon formed by the government and ready to negotiate
".
Fear and anger
In the face of the collapse of the Afghan army, US President Joe Biden increased the military deployment at Kabul airport to 5,000 troops to evacuate US diplomats and Afghan civilians who cooperated with the United States who fear for their lives.
The Pentagon estimates the total number of people to be evacuated at around 30,000.
As the day before, the American helicopters continued on Sunday their incessant rotations between the airport and the American embassy, a gigantic complex located in the
ultra-fortified “
green zone
”, in the center of the capital.
Read also: Afghanistan: Biden brings to 5,000 soldiers the military deployment in Kabul
The US Embassy has ordered its staff to destroy sensitive US documents and symbols that could be used by the Taliban "
for propaganda purposes
."
London at the same time announced the redeployment of 600 soldiers to help British nationals to leave.
Several Western countries will reduce their presence to the strict minimum, or even temporarily close their embassies.
The US president threatened the Taliban with a "
swift and strong
"
response
in the event of an attack that would endanger US nationals during the evacuation operation.
But he also defended his decision to end 20 years of war, the longest in America, launched in the wake of the attacks of September 11, 2001, to overthrow the Taliban because of their refusal to deliver the war. al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden.
“
A year or five more years of American military presence would have made no difference, when the Afghan army cannot or does not want to defend its own country,
” he said.
"
I am the fourth president to lead an American military presence in Afghanistan - two Republicans, two Democrats,
" he concluded.
“
I will not bequeath this war to a fifth.
"