Afghanistan Crisis Highlights: More US Marines arrive in Kabul; City of Mazar-e-Sharif has fallen to Taliban, says report

As a Taliban offensive encircles the Afghan capital, there's increasingly only one way out for those fleeing the war, and only one way in for US troops sent to protect American diplomats still on the ground: Kabul's international airport.A steady stream of people makes its way first to ticket sale counters set up on the parking lot outside the terminal. They push their luggage, load carts with carpets, television sets and mementos, stuff clothes inside purses to make their weight limit as they slowly inch forward.The lucky ones, those who managed to get a ticket for a flight out to anywhere, then wait more than three hours to make it inside the terminal, bidding tearful goodbyes to loved ones they are leaving behind.As the Taliban draw closer, the lines and the panic only grow.'I packed whatever I could to start a new life away from this war,' said Naweed Azimi, who flew to Istanbul with his wife and five children, fearful the Taliban would kill him for working with NATO as a subcontractor. Kabul International Airport -- formally known as Hamid Karzai International Airport, after the country's first president following the US-led overthrow of the Taliban in 2001 -- sits just northeast of the city. Its single runway is long enough to accommodate military aircraft; the airfield as a whole can accommodate over 100 planes on the ground. Surrounded by perimeter fencing and secured by multiple checkpoints, the airport is in sight of the mountains ringing the Afghan capital. Those flying out have for years had to trudge with their luggage up to outdoor screening points before getting to the terminal -- a precaution meant to prevent insurgent suicide bombings. On an ordinary day, the terminal would be filled with Afghans in business suits and traditional dress, mingling with tattooed military contractors sporting wraparound sunglasses and aid workers from all corners of the world. That sedate crowd has been replaced with panicked travellers scrambling to leave Kabul. Afghan airlines Ariana and Kam Air have every seat booked for at least the next week, airport workers said. Those with a plane ticket in hand also have to get a coronavirus test at a clinic amid the pandemic in order to leave. 'I had never see such a rush at the airport before,' said Farid Ahmad Younusi, an Afghan businessman who said he abandoned a contracting firm worth $1 million and fled Kandahar with the Taliban trying to find him. 'Now Taliban have everything that I worked for over the past 20 years.'  The airport rush is only expected to get worse -- and even more complicated.

Those at the airport on Friday night described paying $375 and more for rides from the northern city of Kunduz on unpaved roads to avoid Taliban checkpoints, a trip that typically costs around $40. The cars 'don't even take a break,' said Yousuf Baghban as he waited for his flight out. 'If you stop, you are gone. (AP) 

A fresh contingent of Marines arrived in Kabul on Saturday as part of a 3,000-troop force intended to secure an airlift of US Embassy personnel and Afghan allies as Taliban insurgents approach the outskirts of the capital.

The last-minute decision to re-insert thousands of US troops into Afghanistan reflects the dire state of security and calls into question whether President Joe Biden will meet his August 31 deadline for fully withdrawing combat forces.

After an advance group of Marines arrived on Friday, more flowed into the Kabul international airport on Saturday, said Navy Capt. William Urban, a spokesman for US Central Command. Citing operational security, Urban declined to provide specific numbers. The Pentagon said on Friday that the bulk of the 3,000 -- comprising two battalions of Marines and one of Army soldiers -- are due by the end of the weekend.

Officials have stressed that the newly arriving troops' mission is limited to assisting the airlift of embassy personnel and Afghan allies, and they expect to complete it by month's end. But they might have to stay longer if the embassy is threatened by a Taliban takeover of Kabul by then.     

On Saturday, the Taliban seized two more provinces and approached the outskirts of Kabul while also launching a multi-pronged assault on a major northern city defended by former warlords, Afghan officials said.

'Clearly from their actions, it appears as if they are trying to get Kabul isolated,' Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said, referring to the Taliban's speedy and efficient takedown of major provincial capitals this past week.    

Biden had given the Pentagon until Aug. 31 to complete the withdrawal of the 2,500 to 3,000 troops that were in Afghanistan when he announced in April that he was ending US involvement in the war.    

That number has dropped to just under 1,000, and all but about 650 are scheduled to be gone by the end of the month; the 650 are to remain to help protect the US diplomatic presence, including with aircraft and defensive weapons at the Kabul airport.   

But Thursday's decision to dispatch 3,000 fresh troops to the airport adds a new twist to the US withdrawal. There is no discussion of rejoining the war, but the number of troops needed for security will depend on decisions about keeping the embassy open and the extent of a Taliban threat to the capital in coming days.    

Having the Aug. 31 deadline pass with thousands of US troops in the country would be awkward for Biden given his insistence on ending the 20-year US war by that date. Republicans have already criticized the withdrawal as a mistake and ill-planned, though there's little political appetite by either party to send fresh troops to fight the Taliban.

Kirby declined on Friday to discuss any assessment of whether the Taliban are likely soon to converge on Kabul, but the urgent movement of extra US troops into Afghanistan to assist the embassy drawdown is clear evidence of Washington's worry that after the rapid fall of major cities this week with relatively little Afghan government resistance, Kabul is endangered.    

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani delivered a televised speech Saturday, his first public appearance since the recent Taliban gains, and pledged not to give up the 'achievements' of the 20 years since the US toppled the Taliban after the 9/11 attacks. 

The Biden administration has asserted that Afghan security forces have tangible advantages over the insurgents, including a viable air force and superior numbers. The statement serves to highlight the fact that what the Afghan forces lack is motivation to fight in a circumstance where the Taliban seem to have decisive momentum.

Stephen Biddle, a professor of international and public affairs at Columbia University, said in an interview the announcement that 3,000 U.S. troops were heading to Kabul to help pull out American diplomats and embassy staff likely made Afghan morale even worse.

'The message that sent to Afghans is: The city of Kabul is going to fall so fast that we can't organize an orderly withdrawal from the embassy,' Biddle said. This suggests to Afghans that the Americans see little future for the government and that 'this place could be toast within hours.'

The Pentagon also is moving an additional 4,500 to 5,000 troops to bases in the Gulf countries of Qatar and Kuwait, including 1,000 to Qatar to speed up visa processing for Afghan translators and others who fear retribution from the Taliban for their past work with Americans, and their family members.

The State Department said the embassy in Kabul will remain partially staffed and functioning, but Thursday's decision to evacuate a significant number of embassy staff and bring in the thousands of additional US troops is a sign of waning confidence in the Afghan government's ability to hold off the Taliban surge. The Biden administration has not ruled out a full embassy evacuation or possibly relocating embassy operations to the Kabul airport.

There were a little over 4,000 personnel still at the embassy; the State Department has not said how many are being pulled out in the next two weeks.

The Biden administration warned Taliban officials directly that the US would respond if the Taliban attacked Americans during the stepped-up deployments and evacuations. (AP)

Germany's conservative candidate to succeed Angela Merkel as chancellor, Armin Laschet, on Saturday called on the foreign ministry to quickly authorise the army to assist in the departure of local helpers from Afghanistan.

Foreign Minister Heiko Maas, from Merkel's coalition partner, the SPD, said on Friday that Germany would bring forward charter flights originally planned for the end of August to evacuate non-essential embassy staff in Kabul as well as Afghan helpers.

'The Bundeswehr have to save these people. That's the moral obligation after everything they have done for us,' Laschet said at an event in the city of Giessen.'We can't watch them any longer being threatened by the Taliban and fundamentalists.'

He said the SPD-led foreign ministry had been too hesitant and should put forward a new parliamentary motion for a Bundeswehr mandate. (Reuters)

The Taliban meanwhile released a video announcing the takeover of the main radio station in the southern city of Kandahar renaming it the Voice of Sharia or Islamic law In the video an unnamed insurgent said all employees were present and would broadcast news political analysis and recitations of the Quran the Islamic holy book It appears the station will no longer play music It was not clear if the Taliban had purged the previous employees or allowed them to return to work Most residents of Kandahar sport the traditional dress favored by the Taliban The man in the video congratulated the people of Kandahar on the Taliban’s victory The Taliban have used mobile radio stations over the years but have not operated a station inside a major city since they ruled the country from 1996-2001 At that time they also ran a station called Voice of Sharia out of Kandahar the birthplace of the militant group Music was banned. AP

The Pentagon has said two battalions of Marines and an infantry battalion will arrive in Kabul by Sunday evening, involving about 3,000 troops. An infantry brigade combat team will move to Kuwait to act as a quick reaction force for security in Kabul if needed.Britain and several other Western nations are also sending troops as resistance from Afghan government forces crumbles and fears grow that an assault on Kabul could be just days away. – Reuters

The Taliban have made major advances in recent days, including capturing Herat and Kandahar, the country's second- and third-largest cities. They now control 19 of Afghanistan's 34 provinces, leaving the Western-backed government in control of a smattering of provinces in the center and east, as well as Kabul and Mazar-e-Sharif. - AP

The Taliban also attacked the northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif from several directions, setting off heavy fighting on its outskirts, according to Munir Ahmad Farhad, a spokesman for the provincial governor. There was no immediate word on casualties. - AP

Afghanistan's President Ashraf Ghani said he was in urgent talks with local leaders and international partners as Taliban rebels pushed closer to Kabul, capturing a key town south of the capital that is one of the gateways to the city."As your President, my focus is on preventing further instability, violence, and displacement of my people," Ghani said in a brief televised address as the United States and other countries rushed in troops to help evacuate their embassies.Ghani gave no sign of responding to a Taliban demand that he resign for any talks on a ceasefire and a political settlement, saying "re-integration of the security and defence forces is our priority, and serious measures are being taken in this regard".He spoke soon after the insurgents took Pul-e-Alam, the capital of Logar province that is 70 km (40 miles) south of Kabul, according to a local provincial council member. – Reuters

An Afghan lawmaker says the Taliban have captured the capital of the Paktika province bordering Pakistan. Khalid Asad, a lawmaker from the eastern province, says the local capital, Sharana, fell to the insurgents on Saturday. The Taliban have rapidly advanced across northern, western and southern Afghanistan in recent weeks and now control most of the country's provincial capitals. The Taliban are currently battling government forces some 11 kilometers (7 miles) south of the capital, Kabul. Their lightning advance comes less than three weeks before the U.S. plans to withdraw the last of its forces. - AP

As Taliban fighters seized a series of provincial cities across Afghanistan, thousands of kilometres away in a makeshift refugee camp in eastern Lithuania, former Afghan soldier Fazel Rahman looked back on a war he abandoned two months ago.He said he had been warned by Taliban sympathizers in his home village that his life would be in danger unless he joined them, but he didn't see that as an option so he decided to follow the path that tens of thousands of other Afghans have already taken and make his way to Europe."The situation in our country has got worse. The Taliban killed my cousin," said Fazel Rahman, who served for 15 years in the Afghan army. "I fled with my kids because they threatened me, warning me to leave my duty."Now waiting in a former school building in the village of Kazitiskis in the Ignalina region of Lithuania, he has found himself in the middle of a standoff between Belarus and the European Union. – Reuters

President Joe Biden's administration has been holding secret talks with more countries than previously known in a desperate attempt to secure deals to temporarily house at-risk Afghans who worked for the U.S. government, four U.S. officials told Reuters.The previously unreported discussions with such countries as Kosovo and Albania underscore the administration's desire to protect U.S.-affiliated Afghans from Taliban reprisals while safely completing the process of approving their U.S. visas. – Reuters

Canada plans to resettle more than 20,000 vulnerable Afghans including women leaders, human rights workers and reporters to protect them from Taliban reprisals, Immigration Minister Marco Mendicino said on Friday.The effort is in addition to an earlier initiative to welcome thousands of Afghans who worked for the Canadian government, such as interpreters, embassy workers and their families, he told a news conference."As the Taliban continues to take over more of Afghanistan, many more Afghans' lives are under increasing threat," he said. He did not provide a timetable.Defense Minister Harjit Sajjan said some Canadian special forces were in Afghanistan taking part in the relocation effort but gave no details.  – Reuters

U.S. President Joe Biden on Friday spoke to Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and national security adviser Jake Sullivan about "ongoing efforts to safely drawdown the civilian footprint in Afghanistan," the White House said in a tweet. – Reuters

American troops have flown into Kabul to help evacuate embassy personnel and other civilians in the Afghan capital, a U.S. official said on Saturday, a day after Taliban insurgents seized the country's second- and third-biggest cities.The Pentagon has said two battalions of Marines and one infantry battalion will arrive in Kabul by Sunday evening, involving about 3,000 troops."They have arrived, their arrival will continue 'til tomorrow," the U.S. official told Reuters on condition of anonymity.An infantry brigade combat team will also move out of Fort Bragg, North Carolina, to Kuwait to act as a quick reaction force for security in Kabul if needed, the Pentagon has said.Britain and several other Western nations are also sending troops as resistance from Afghan government forces crumbles and fears grow that an assault on Kabul could be just days away.An Afghan government official confirmed on Friday that Kandahar, the economic hub of the south, was under Taliban control as U.S.-led international forces complete their withdrawal after 20 years of war. – Reuters

The Taliban pushed closer to Kabul on Saturday, capturing a key city near Afghanistan's capital as American troops flew in to help evacuate embassy personnel and other civilians.Continuing a rapid advance, the insurgents took Pul-e-Alam, around 70 km (40 miles) from Kabul and the capital of Logar province, a local provincial council member said.The Taliban did not face much resistance, he told Reuters on condition of anonymity.The gain of the city, a key staging post for a potential assault on Kabul, comes a day after the insurgents took the country's second- and third-biggest cities.The Pentagon has said two battalions of Marines and one infantry battalion will arrive in Kabul by Sunday evening, involving about 3,000 troops. – Reuters

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani said on Saturday he was consulting with local leaders and international partners on the situation in the country, as the Taliban continues its rapid advance."As your president, my focus is on preventing further instability, violence and displacement of my people," Ghani said in a brief televised address.- Reuters