Pul-e-Khumri, capital of the northern province of Baghlan, fell to the Taliban on Tuesday, according to residents who reported Afghan security forces retreating
Taliban insurgents now control 65% of the country by capturing large Afghan territories, while US President Joe Biden urged the nation’s leaders to fight for their homeland.
Pul-e-Khumri, capital of the northern province of Baghlan, fell to the Taliban on Tuesday evening, according to residents who reported Afghan security forces retreating toward the Kelagi desert, home to a large Afghan army base. In about a week, Pul-e-Khumri became the seventh regional capital to come under the control of the Islamist militants.
Despite the bloodshed, and with eight provincial capitals now toppled in the insurgents’ sweeping advance, US President Joe Biden gave no hint of delaying his deadline to withdraw all American troops by August 31
Biden told reporters at the White House, saying the Afghan troops outnumber the Taliban and must want to fight, “Afghan leaders have to come together, they’ve got to fight for themselves, fight for their nation.”
The U.S. president noted that Washington has spent more than $1 trillion over 20 years and lost thousands of troops, he also said he does not regret his decision to withdraw. He said the United States continues to provide significant air support, food, equipment and salaries to Afghan forces.
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In Kabul, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani said he was seeking help from regional militias he has squabbled with for years. He appealed to civilians to defend Afghanistan’s “democratic fabric.”
The north for years was Afghanistan’s most peaceful region, with only a minimal Taliban presence. The militants’ strategy appears to be to take the north, and border crossings in the north, west and south, and then close in on Kabul.
Taliban forces now control 65% of Afghanistan, threaten to take 11 provincial capitals and seek to deprive Kabul of its traditional support from national forces in the north, a senior European Union official said on Tuesday.
The government has withdrawn from hard-to-defend rural districts to focus on holding population centers. Officials have appealed for pressure on Pakistan to stop Taliban reinforcements and supplies flowing over the border, however, Pakistan denies backing the Taliban.
The United States has been carrying out some air strikes to support government troops. Defense Department spokesman John Kirby said the strikes were having a “kinetic” effect on the Taliban, but acknowledged limitations.
“Nobody has suggested here that air strikes are a panacea, that will solve all the problems of the conditions on the ground. We’ve never said that,” Kirby said.
The United States has almost left the battlefield. Biden stressed that Washington would continue to support the Afghan security forces with air strikes, food, equipment and money for salaries. “We trained and equipped with modern equipment over 300,000 Afghan forces” over two decades, he said. “They have got to want to fight. They have outnumbered the Taliban.”
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