The insurgents have taken control of all northern Afghanistan. They are now the sole occupants of Mazar-e-Sharif. This was the country’s fourth-largest city. Two powerful ex-warlords and Afghan forces had promised to defend it.
Abas Ebrahimzada is a Balkh lawmaker who said that the national army surrendered first. This prompted pro-government militias to lose morale in the face of the Taliban attack earlier Saturday.
Ebrahimzada said Abdul Rashid Dostum and Ata Mohammad Noor, former warlords who command thousands of fighters, had fled the province and their whereabouts were unknown.
Noor posted on Facebook that his defeat at Mazar-e Sharif was orchestrated. He also blamed government forces for their loss, saying that they had handed their weapons and equipment over to the Taliban. Although he did not give details or name the conspirators, he said that he and Dostum were “safe now”.
Recent advances by the Taliban include the capture of Kandahar and Herat, two of Afghanistan’s largest cities. They now control 24 of Afghanistan’s 34 provincials. This leaves the Western-backed government with only a few provinces in the east and center, along with Kabul as its capital.
Hoda Ahmadi, a local lawmaker, stated that the Taliban took all of Logar province just south of Kabul and held the detained officials. She claimed that the Taliban had reached Char Asyab, which is just 11 km (7 miles) from the capital.
According to Zefon Saffi, a lawmaker from Laghman, later the insurgents seized Mihterlam (capital of Laghman province), northeast of Kabul without fighting.
Saturday’s televised speech by Ashraf Ghani, the Afghan president, was his first public appearance in public since the recent Taliban gains. He pledged not to lose the “achievements”, which he said he had made in the 20 years since the U.S. overthrew the Taliban following the 9/11 attacks.
This week, the U.S. continued to hold peace talks with the Taliban government in Qatar. The international community warned that any Taliban government imposed by force would be rejected. The insurgents seem to be unwilling to make concessions, as they are racking up victories on battlefield.
Ghani stated that consultations have been initiated within the government with elders and politicians, as well as representatives from different levels of the community, as well as international allies. He said, “Soon the results of these consultations will be shared with us,” without going into detail.
His forces suffered the worst setback since the Taliban offensive started hours later.
Mazar-e-Sharif was home to the famous blue-tiled Muslim shrine. It was also a stronghold for the Northern Alliance, ethnic militias that helped the U.S. overthrow the Taliban in 2001.
As many as 2000 Taliban fighters were captured by Uzbek sympathizers and Shiite Hazara leader Mohammed Mohaqiq in 1997. In a vengeance attack, thousands of Hazaras were killed in Mazar-e-Sharif by the Taliban in 1997.
Many makeshift camps were set up in Mazar-e-Sharif, where ethnic Hazaras sought refuge after fleeing from their homes in the outlying regions. According to them, the Taliban had taken relatives into custody who tried to flee their areas and even burned schools.
Tens of thousands of Afghans have fled their homes, with many fearing a return to the Taliban’s oppressive rule. This group previously governed Afghanistan according to a strict version of Islamic law. Women were prohibited from working or attending school and they could not leave their home without a male relative.
Salima Mazari is one of few female district governors in Pakistan. She expressed concerns about a Taliban takeover in an interview with Mazar-e Sharif before the fall.
Mazari, who is the head of a 36,000-strong district near the city’s northern border, said that “there will be no place to women.” “There are no women in the Taliban-controlled provinces. Not even in the cities. They all live in prison.
Legislators from these areas claimed that the Taliban also captured Paktika and the small Kunar provinces, which border Pakistan, as well the Faryab province in north and central Daykundi.
Sayed Hussan Gerdezi from Paktia, a lawmaker, stated that the Taliban had seized most of Gardez’s capital city, but that battles with government forces continued. They claimed they were the ones in control of the city.
Despite hundreds of billions in U.S. assistance over the years, fears have been raised that the Taliban could retake power or that factional fighting could lead to the destruction of Afghanistan. This is similar to what happened after 1989’s Soviet withdrawal. It’s also prompted many American and Afghan veterans of the conflict to question whether two decades of blood and treasure was worth it.
Afghans have been streaming into Kabul’s international airport in recent days, desperate to fly out, even as more American troops have arrived to help partially evacuate the U.S. Embassy.
Friday saw the arrival of the first Marines out of a contingent numbering 3,000. The rest are expected by Sunday, and their deployment has raised questions about whether the administration will meet its Aug. 31 withdrawal deadline.
Although the U.S. Air Force conducted several airstrikes in Afghanistan to support its Afghan allies, they did not appear to have stopped the Taliban from advancing. Flight-tracking data revealed that Saturday saw the passage of a B-52 bomber as well as other warplanes through the country’s skies.
In the meantime, the Taliban released a video in which they announced the takeover of Kandahar’s main radio station. The station was taken over by the Taliban earlier in the week. They renamed it Voice of Sharia or Islamic law.
Soon after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, the U.S. invaded Afghanistan. This was planned and executed by al-Qaida while being protected by Taliban. The U.S. moved quickly to defeat the Taliban and built a nation, hoping to establish a modern Afghan state following decades of unrest.
In a statement Saturday, President Joe Biden stated that approximately 5,000 U.S. soldiers were being deployed to Afghanistan to provide an “orderly, safe drawdown” of American personnel and help with the evacuation of Afghans who have served in the military’s nearly two-decade-long war.
Biden had announced earlier this year a timeline for the U.S. troop withdrawal by August 31st. To make it possible for the U.S. to pull out, his predecessor, President Donald Trump had made an agreement with Taliban.
Biden’s announcement set off the latest offensive. The Taliban, which have long ruled large areas of Afghanistan’s countryside, quickly took control of provincial capitals, border crossings, and other important infrastructure.
Kawa Basharat, a Mazar-e-Sharif resident, said that “the security situation in the capital is getting worse” just hours before the fall of the city. “I want peace, stability; the fighting must stop.”
