The Taliban's plan to take over Afghanistan 2:56
(CNN) -
Last week, US intelligence analysts had predicted that it would likely be several more weeks before Afghanistan's civilian government in Kabul fell into the hands of Taliban fighters.
Actually, it only took a few days.
On Sunday, Taliban militants retaken the Afghan capital, nearly two decades after US troops drove them out of Kabul.
Although the Afghan security forces were well funded and well equipped, they put up little resistance when Taliban militants took over much of the country following the withdrawal of US troops in early July.
On Sunday, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani fled the country and left the presidential palace to the Taliban fighters.
Boris Johnson talks about the situation in Afghanistan 5:19
US officials have already admitted they miscalculated the speed at which the Taliban were able to advance across the country, and Secretary of State Antony Blinken said of Afghanistan's national security forces: "The fact is, we've seen that that force has not been able to defend the country ... and that has happened faster than we anticipated. "
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Biden officials admit miscalculation in Afghanistan
The rapid success of the Taliban has raised questions about how the insurgent group was able to gain control so soon after America's withdrawal from Afghanistan and, after nearly 20 years of conflict in America's longest war, what the United States wants. Taliban.
Who are the Taliban?
Formed in 1994, the Taliban consisted of former Afghan resistance fighters, collectively known as mujahideen, who fought against invading Soviet forces in the 1980s. Their goal was to impose their interpretation of Islamic law on the country and eliminate any foreign influence.
After the Taliban captured Kabul in 1996, the Sunni Islamist organization established strict rules.
Women had to cover themselves from head to toe, were not allowed to study or work, and were forbidden to travel alone.
Television, music, and non-Islamic festivals were also banned.
That changed after September 11, 2001, when 19 men hijacked four commercial airliners in the United States, crashing two into the World Trade Center towers, one into the Pentagon and one bound for Washington, in a field in Pennsylvania.
More than 2,700 people died in the attacks.
Taliban appear inside the presidential palace 1:12
The attack was orchestrated by al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, operating from inside Taliban-controlled Afghanistan.
Less than a month after the attack, US and allied forces invaded Afghanistan, with the aim of preventing the Taliban from providing a safe haven for Al Qaeda, and preventing that organization from using the country as a base of operations for terrorist activities.
Minute by minute: What's happening in Afghanistan?
In the two decades since they were ousted from power, the Taliban have been waging an insurgency against allied forces and the US-backed Afghan government.
Who are the leaders?
The Taliban are led by Mawlawi Haibatullah Akhundzada, a high-ranking religious cleric from the founding generation of the Taliban.
He was appointed leader of the Taliban in 2016 after the group's previous leader, Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Mansour, was killed in a US airstrike in Pakistan.
At the time, Thomas Ruttig of the Afghanistan Analysts Network said the new Taliban leader could "integrate the younger, militant generation."
Another key player is Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, a co-founder of the Taliban, who was released in 2013 after being captured in 2010 in Karachi, Pakistan's largest city.
Baradar heads the group's political committee and recently met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi.
What did the Taliban agree with Trump?
In 2017, the Taliban issued an open letter to newly elected US President Donald Trump, asking him to withdraw US forces from Afghanistan.
After years of negotiations, the Taliban and the Trump administration finally signed a peace agreement in 2020. The United States agreed to withdraw troops and release some 5,000 Taliban prisoners, while the Taliban agreed to take steps to prevent any group or individual, including al Qaeda, use Afghanistan to threaten the security of the United States or its allies.
But that did not bring peace.
President of Afghanistan leaves the country because of Taliban advance 1:43
Violence in Afghanistan reached its highest levels in two decades.
The Taliban increased their control of wider swaths of the country and, in June this year, disputed or controlled between 50% and 70% of Afghan territory outside of urban centers, according to a United Nations Security Council report. .
The report warned that an emboldened Taliban poses a severe and expanding threat to the government of Afghanistan.
The report argued that the Taliban leaders had no interest in the peace process and appeared to be focused on strengthening their military position to give it influence in the negotiations or, if necessary, in the use of armed force.
"The message from the Taliban remains intransigent and shows no signs of reducing the level of violence in Afghanistan to facilitate peace negotiations with the country's government and other Afghan stakeholders," the report highlighted.
What do the Taliban want?
The Taliban have tried to present themselves as different from the past: they have claimed to be committed to the peace process, an inclusive government, and willing to uphold some rights for women.
Taliban spokesman Sohail Shaheen said women could still continue their education from primary to higher education.
That implies a breaking of the rules during the past Taliban rule between 1996 and 2001. Shaheen also said diplomats, journalists and non-profit organizations could continue to operate in the country.
"That is our commitment, to provide a safe and conducive environment for the people of Afghanistan," he said.
But many observers worry that the Taliban's return to rule is a return to Afghanistan two decades ago, when women's rights were severely restricted.
Antonio Guterres, the United Nations secretary-general, said in a tweet that hundreds of thousands were forced to flee amid reports of serious human rights violations.
Conflict in Afghanistan is forcing hundreds of thousands to flee amid reports of serious human rights violations.
All abuses must stop.
International humanitarian law and human rights, especially the hard-won gains of women and girls, must be preserved.
- António Guterres (@antonioguterres) August 15, 2021
"International humanitarian law and human rights must be preserved, especially the hard-won achievements of women and girls," she said.
Amin Saikal, author of "Modern Afghanistan: A Story of Struggle and Survival", said the Taliban did not want Afghanistan to become a pariah state and wanted to continue receiving international aid.
However, he warned: "As far as their ideological commitment is concerned, they haven't really changed."
Why were they so strong against the Afghan forces?
Over the past two decades, the United States spent more than a trillion dollars in Afghanistan.
He trained Afghan soldiers and police and provided them with modern equipment.
In February, the Afghan forces numbered 308,000, according to a United Nations Security Council report released in June, well above the estimated number of armed Taliban fighters, which ranged from 58,000 to 100,000.
Guterres warns that Afghanistan is out of control 0:53
Ultimately, however, the Afghan forces proved no match for the Taliban.
Carter Malkasian, a former senior adviser to the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, who is also the author of "The American War in Afghanistan: A Story," said Afghan forces sometimes lacked coordination and suffered from poor morale.
The more defeats they had, the worse their morale became and the more emboldened the Taliban became.
"The Afghan forces, for a long period of time, have had problems with morale and also with their willingness to fight the Taliban," he said.
"The Taliban can present themselves as those who resist and fight the occupation, which is something close and appreciated for what it means to be Afghan. Whereas that is something much more difficult to claim for the government, or for the military forces. who fight for the government, "he added.
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Taliban spokesman Shaheen said they were not surprised by their successful military offensive.
"Because we have roots among the people, because it was a popular uprising of the people, because we knew that we had been saying it for 20 years," he said.
"But nobody believed us. And now when they saw, they were surprised because before they did not believe," he added.
Could the United States have known that the Taliban would return?
Just last month, senior officials in the Biden administration believed it could be months before the civilian government in Kabul fell.
Now lawmakers are pressing the Biden administration for answers and demanding information on how US intelligence may have misjudged the situation on the ground.
Texas Rep. Michael McCaul, the top Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, has called the situation an "absolute disaster of epic proportions," while Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said. that "everyone saw this coming" except for the president, who "publicly confidently dismissed these threats just a few weeks ago."
US military base now seized by Taliban 4:47
US officials have expressed dismay at the inability of the now-fallen, US-backed Afghan government to protect key cities and regions from the Taliban, despite establishing a strategy to do so during its communications with Biden and other high-ranking US leaders. level.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said that "the lack of resistance faced by the Taliban from Afghan forces has been extremely disconcerting."
"They had all the advantages, they had 20 years of training by our coalition forces, a modern air force, good equipment and weapons," he said, according to sources in the call where he made the comments.
"But you cannot buy will or leadership. And that is really what was lacking in this situation," he said.
CNN's Kevin Liptak, Jason Hoffman, Kylie Atwood, Jennifer Hansler, Nicole Gaouette and Nic Robertson contributed to this report.
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