Taliban near gates of Kabul, embassies prepare for evacuations

Taliban insurgent fighters are camped just 50 kilometres (30 miles) away from Kabul and this development has prompted many nations, including US and India, to airlift their nationals out of Afghanistan’s capital city.

(Credits: Reuters)

New Delhi: The Afghan Taliban on Saturday (August 14, 2021) tightened their territorial stranglehold around the country's capital, Kabul as US Marines returned to oversee emergency evacuations and refugees rushed to safety. 

As Afghanistan’s second and third largest cities having fallen into Afghan Taliban hands, Kabul has effectively become the besieged. According to AFP reports, the Taliban fighters are camped just 50 kilometres (30 miles) away from Kabul and this development has prompted many nations, including the US and India, to airlift their nationals out of Afghanistan’s capital city. 

In recent developments, the United States has taken a last-minute decision to send 3,000 US troops to Afghanistan to help partially evacuate the US Embassy. Officials have stressed that the newly arriving troops' mission is limited to assisting the airlift of embassy personnel and Afghan allies.

Meanwhile, other nations, including Britain, Germany, Denmark and Spain, also announced the withdrawal of personnel from their respective embassies on Friday. Switzerland will also withdraw its three remaining staff in Kabul "as soon as possible" as the security situation in Afghanistan worsens, said the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs on Friday.

As per AFP reports, tens of thousands of Kabul residents have sought refuge in Kabul in recent days. "We don't know what is going on," one resident, Khairddin Logari, told AFP.

Read more about Taliban here: Taliban's History

Additionally, in his first and strongest appeal to the Islamic militant group, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he was “deeply disturbed by early indications that the Taliban are imposing severe restrictions in the areas under their control, particularly targeting women and journalists.”

Guterres said, “It is particularly horrifying and heartbreaking to see reports of the hard-won rights of Afghan girls and women being ripped away from them."

“This is the moment to halt the offensive,” Guterres said. “This is the moment to start serious negotiation. This is the moment to avoid a prolonged civil war or the isolation of Afghanistan.”

The fast and widespread effect of the Taliban’s advances has shocked Afghans and the US-led alliance that poured billions into the country after toppling the Taliban in the wake of the September 11 attacks nearly 20 years ago.

Despite the frantic evacuation efforts, the US continues to insist that a complete Taliban takeover is not inevitable.

While acknowledging that the Taliban is "trying to isolate" the capital city, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby on Friday said, "Kabul is not right now in an imminent threat environment."

Kirby also said that most of the troops shepherding the evacuation would be in place by Sunday and "will be able to move thousands per day" out of Afghanistan.

Meanwhile, a Kandahar resident Abdul Nafi told AFP that the city was calm after government forces abandoned it. "I came out this morning, I saw Taliban white flags in most squares of the city," he said. "I thought it might be the first day of Eid."

Additionally, pro-Taliban social media accounts have boasted of the vast spoils of war captured by the Taliban insurgents fighters.

(With Agency inputs)