On Thursday, the Taliban scored other major victories in Afghanistan, capturing the two main cities in the west and south of the country: Herat, an important economic and cultural center, and Kandahar, a central city for the southern economy. Thus, only four major cities remain under central government control, two of which are already under siege. The Taliban could then complete the complete reconquest of Afghanistan in a matter of weeks, after their regime was overthrown by US military intervention twenty years ago, starting the longest war ever fought by the United States.
After lengthy siege, Lashkar Gah is taken by the Taliban – https://t.co/pw4NGIFrCj pic.twitter.com/N0nKftng4j
— Long War Journal (@LongWarJournal) August 13, 2021
In red the areas controlled by the Taliban, in dark orange those with a high risk of ending up under the control of the Taliban, in light orange those with a moderate risk, in yellow those with a low risk, at least to date (map of Long War Journal )
The Taliban’s victories in Herat and Kandahar not only allowed the Taliban to complete the conquest of southern and eastern Afghanistan, but also showed the extreme weakness of the Afghan security forces.
To defend the two cities, considered important by the central government, many soldiers had in fact been sent, more than in other areas that had come under the control of the Taliban. However, during the battles that have been fought in recent weeks, the security forces have seemed close to collapse: many soldiers and policemen have deserted, abandoning their posts, while others have joined the Taliban. The same could now happen in the last cities still under government control, including the capital Kabul.
The defenses put in place so far by the militias that had multiplied and strengthened in recent months, some of which had already fought against the Taliban within the so-called “Northern Alliance”, a coalition formed in the late 1990s and then an ally of the United States in the 2001 invasion. In Herat, for example, the defenses of militias loyal to the former “warlord” Ismail Khan, whose house was also occupied by the Taliban during the advance of Thursday. This is also an important fact: in recent months it was in fact thought that the militias, with which the government of Kabul had recently tried to mend relations, could be a brake for the Taliban. But this was not the case.
Thursday morning the Taliban they had taken also control of the city of Ghazni, the provincial capital about 140 kilometers south of Kabul and considered strategically important for a possible attack on the capital.
– Read also: The expulsions of Afghan asylum seekers to Europe
The Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan seems only a matter of time. Joe Biden’s administration has shown no intention of changing the approach taken thus far, thus reversing the decision to withdraw US troops from the country by 9/11 of this year. The withdrawal of the American soldiers – in some circumstances rather hastily – had favored the start of the very rapid Taliban advance. For now Biden he just decided to send 3,000 marines and soldiers to Afghanistan to facilitate the evacuation of the embassy and American citizens to Kabul.
–
