Taliban take key city close to Kabul as US troops arrive to assist evacuations - CNA

SPINNING OUT OF CONTROL

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned that "Afghanistan is spinning out of control" and urged all parties to do more to protect civilians.

"This is the moment to halt the offensive. This is the moment to start serious negotiation. This is the moment to avoid a prolonged civil war, or the isolation of Afghanistan," Guterres told reporters in New York.

Many people in the capital were stocking up on rice and other food as well as first aid, residents said. Visa applications at embassies were running in the tens of thousands, officials said.

Afghan First Vice President Amrullah Saleh said after a security meeting chaired by President Ashraf Ghani that he was proud of the armed forces and the government would do all it could to strengthen resistance to the Taliban.

The explosion in fighting has raised fears of a refugee crisis and a rollback of gains in human rights. Some 400,000 civilians have been forced from their homes this year, 250,000 of them since May, a UN official said.

Of Afghanistan's major cities, the government still holds Mazar-i-Sharif in the north and Jalalabad, near the Pakistani border in the east, in addition to Kabul.

The speed of the Taliban's gains has led to recriminations over the US withdrawal, which was negotiated last year under the administration of President Joe Biden's Republican predecessor, Donald Trump.

Biden said this week he did not regret his decision to follow through with the withdrawal. He noted Washington has spent more than US$1 trillion and lost thousands of troops over two decades, and called on Afghanistan's army and leaders to step up.

Opinion polls showed most Americans back Biden's decision, but Republicans criticised the Democratic president's handling of the US withdrawal.

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell called the situation in Afghanistan "a debacle" but said it was not too late to stop the Taliban overrunning the capital by providing air and other support for Afghan forces.

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2021-08-14 09:25:43Z
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