Taliban fighters stand guard at a check point in Farah, Afghanistan August 11, 2021. REUTERS/Stringer NO RESALES. NO ARCHIVES

Ben Burke Producer

International

Kabul in trouble? Taliban seizes six more capital cities

Aug 12, 2021

Ben Burke Producer

By Ben Burke (Producer)

The Taliban offensive continued in Afghanistan Wednesday and Thursday, as six more provincial capital cities came under their patrol. The video above shows Pentagon spokesman John Kirby discussing the future of Kabul, Afghanistan’s capital city.

“No potential outcome has to be inevitable, including the fall of Kabul, which everybody seems to be reporting about. It doesn’t have to be that way,” Kirby said. “And I think it’s going to be it really depends on the kind of political and military leadership that the Afghans can muster to turn this around. They have the capability, they have the capacity. And now it’s really time to use those things.”

The fall of the capitals of Badakhshan and Baghlan provinces to the northeast and Farah province to the west Wednesday gave the Taliban control of two-thirds of the nation. On Thursday they sized Ghazni, which allowed them to cut off a crucial highway linking Kabul with Afghanistan’s southern provinces. Later in the day, they captured Kandahar and Herat, Afghanistan’s second and third larges cities respectively. There is increasing pressure on the country’s central government to stem the tide of the advance, even after it lost a major base in Kunduz.

Despite this, Kirby expressed confidence in the Afghan government.

“They have the advantage in numbers, in operational structure, in air forces and in modern weaponry, and it’s really about having the will and the leadership to use those advantages to their own benefit,” Kirby said. “We are providing some support from the air. But this is really an Afghan strategy and they should speak to that.”

As Kirby noted, the U.S. military has conducted some airstrikes, but largely has avoided involving itself in the ground campaign. Those airstrikes have not made a strategic difference thus far and are scheduled to end when the United States formally ends its role in the war on Aug. 31. President Joe Biden could continue airstrikes after that, but given his firm stance on ending the war, that seems unlikely.

“They’ve got to fight for themselves, fight for their nation,” Biden said.

Senior U.S. military officials had cautioned Biden that a full U.S. withdrawal could lead to a Taliban takeover, but the president had decided back in April that continuing the war was a waste.

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John Kirby, Pentagon Spokesman: “We’re focused on the security situation that we face now, which, again, we’ve acknowledged is deteriorating, we are certainly mindful of the advances that the Taliban have made in terms of taking over yet an increased number of provincial capitals. And our focus is on supporting the Afghans in the field where and when we can and completing this drawdown. I’m not going to speak about planning contingencies or potential outcomes. And the other thing I’d say is that no potential outcome has to be inevitable, including the fall of Kabul, which everybody seems to be reporting about. It doesn’t have to be that way. And I think it’s going to be it really depends on the kind of political and military leadership that the Afghans can muster to turn this around. They have the capability, they have the capacity. And now it’s really time to use those things.”

“So, again, seeing the press reporting, I’m not going to confirm or deny the figures that some of you have been reporting, we don’t talk about intelligence assessments. Our focus is on getting this drawdown done in a safe and orderly way.”

“Right now, the authorities that we have to support, the Afghans from the air expire at the end of this month with the drawdown. And so we are focused on using the authorities that we have, the capabilities that we have during the rest of the drawdown to support Afghan forces from the air. There has been no policy decision about what it looks like beyond that. And I’m simply not going to speculate.”

“They have the advantage in numbers, in operational structure, in air forces and in modern weaponry, and it’s really about having the will and the leadership to use those advantages to their own benefit. And I just can’t, and I won’t, as I’ve been very scrupulous about not doing from the podium speaking to a daily battlefield assessment when these aren’t battles that we are involved in on the ground. And we are yes, we are providing some support from the air. But this is really an Afghan strategy and they should speak to that.”

“They have advantages that the Taliban doesn’t, and again, I really think, as I’ve said before, when we look back on this, we will see it really will come down to leadership, political and military.”