WhenSultansBowled
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Afghanistan under the Taliban regime discussion
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WhenSultansBowled
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Watch this press conference clip of Joe Biden:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">This may become the most infamous — and devastating — press conference ever held by an American President. <a href="https://t.co/j4kKwyPDVm">pic.twitter.com/j4kKwyPDVm</a></p>— BDW (@BryanDeanWright) <a href="https://twitter.com/BryanDeanWright/status/1426710333264179214?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 15, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">This may become the most infamous — and devastating — press conference ever held by an American President. <a href="https://t.co/j4kKwyPDVm">pic.twitter.com/j4kKwyPDVm</a></p>— BDW (@BryanDeanWright) <a href="https://twitter.com/BryanDeanWright/status/1426710333264179214?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 15, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
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The way the Afghan military supposedly trained by the American's capitulated in front of the Taliban suggests they were planted there by them. It is so hard to believe how they did not show the slightest resistance. Not only were they in cahoots with the Taliban but were clearly making fun of the American's too during training sessions
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WhenSultansBowled
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The way the Afghan military supposedly trained by the American's capitulated in front of the Taliban suggests they were planted there by them. It is so hard to believe how they did not show the slightest resistance. Not only were they in cahoots with the Taliban but were clearly making fun of the American's too during training sessions
The 3rd dude from the right side
Bonus:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Afghan People throwing shoes and stones to Afghan Army who ran away like cowards without even showing a little resistance to <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Taliban?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Taliban</a>.<br>For this is USA spent $88b to train them?<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Kabul?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Kabul</a> <a href="https://t.co/Hk6Z69xsHF">pic.twitter.com/Hk6Z69xsHF</a></p>— نـــــــادرخـــــــان (@imNadirkhan) <a href="https://twitter.com/imNadirkhan/status/1426866964958302208?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 15, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
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Taliban leader Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar declared the new Afghanistan president
- Afghanistan's President Ashraf Ghani relinquishes power to an interim government led by Taliban commander Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar
- Officials told Reuters and The Associated Press that President Ghani has left Afghanistan for Tajikistan as the Taliban
- The US Embassy in Kabul has suspended all operations and told Americans to shelter in place, saying it has received reports of gunfire at the international airport, according to The Associated Press
- Three Afghan officials had confirmed on Sunday to the AP that the Taliban have started entering the capital of Kabul from all sides
- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called on the Taliban to immediately halt their offensive. On Saturday, during a televised address, Ghani said “remobilizing the Afghan security and defense forces is our top priority"
- President Biden has approved the deployment of an additional 1,000 troops to ensure "an orderly and safe drawdown of US personnel and other allied personnel" ahead of the scheduled withdrawal of the US and NATO from Afghanistan by August 31
- Afghanistan's President Ashraf Ghani relinquishes power to an interim government led by Taliban commander Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar
- Officials told Reuters and The Associated Press that President Ghani has left Afghanistan for Tajikistan as the Taliban
- The US Embassy in Kabul has suspended all operations and told Americans to shelter in place, saying it has received reports of gunfire at the international airport, according to The Associated Press
- Three Afghan officials had confirmed on Sunday to the AP that the Taliban have started entering the capital of Kabul from all sides
- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called on the Taliban to immediately halt their offensive. On Saturday, during a televised address, Ghani said “remobilizing the Afghan security and defense forces is our top priority"
- President Biden has approved the deployment of an additional 1,000 troops to ensure "an orderly and safe drawdown of US personnel and other allied personnel" ahead of the scheduled withdrawal of the US and NATO from Afghanistan by August 31
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Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has confirmed he has left the country as the Taliban entered Kabul, saying he wanted to avoid bloodshed.
Reuters had earlier reported his departure for Tajikistan, citing a senior interior ministry official.
But in a Facebook post late on Sunday, Mr Ghani said he was faced with a "hard choice" between the "armed Taliban" or "leaving the dear country that I dedicated my life to protecting the past 20 years".
"If left unchecked, countless patriots would be martyred and the city of Kabul would be devastated, resulting in a major humanitarian catastrophe in the six-million-strong city," he said.
"The Taliban had made it clear that they were ready to carry out a bloody attack on all of Kabul and the people of Kabul to oust me. In order to prevent a flood of bloodshed, I decided to leave."
His post confirmed Taliban officials' claims they have taken control of Afghanistan's presidential palace, alongside 11 districts of the capital.
It came amid reports of several explosions in city, despite the Taliban saying that they wanted a "peaceful transition of power".
Prime Minister Boris Johnson chaired a COBRA meeting on the Afghan crisis this evening after requesting to recall parliament from its summer break on Wednesday.
He said the UK and its international partners should work to ensure "Afghanistan does not become a breeding ground for terror" once again.
Mr Johnson added that the "situation remains difficult" and the world is facing a "change of regime in Kabul", but UK officials are working to get as many British nationals out of the country as it can "in the next few days".
British troops from the 16 Air Assault Brigade landed in Kabul on Sunday, while British Airways ordered its pilots to stay away from Afghan airspace over security concerns.
Other airlines are likely to follow suit, as flight paths over Afghanistan connect countries to India and the Far East.
The Home Office said it is working to "protect British nationals and help former UK staff and other eligible people travel to the UK".
A Foreign Office spokesperson said the UK had "reduced" its diplomatic presence in Afghanistan, "but our ambassador remains in Kabul and UK government staff continue to work to provide assistance to British nationals and to our Afghan staff".
According to The Sunday Telegraph, Britain's ambassador to Afghanistan Sir Laurie Bristow is going to be flown out of the country by tonight.
The Taliban has made rapid gains over the past week, with Western countries urgently deploying troops to assist with the evacuation of diplomatic staff.
US President Joe Biden announced he was sending 5,000 more troops to Kabul to help remove personnel - and the evacuation of the American embassy has now begun.
US diplomats have been urgently destroying sensitive documents and helicopters have been seen landing on the US embassy.
The Biden administration has warned Taliban officials any actions that put American personnel at risk "will be met with a swift and strong US military response".
Mr Biden has defended his decision to withdraw US troops from the country in the coming weeks, and said the task of fighting back against Taliban insurgents must fall to Afghan forces.
He warned that an indefinite American military presence in Afghanistan is not an option, and has vowed not to pass on the war to a fifth US president.
The president's handling of the crisis has attracted criticism from some American politicians, with his predecessor Donald Trump claiming that Mr Biden "gets it wrong every time on foreign policy".
In a strongly worded statement, Mr Trump said: "After I took out ISIS, I established a credible deterrent. That deterrent is now gone. The Taliban no longer has fear or respect for America, or America's power.
"What a disgrace it will be when the Taliban raises their flag over America's embassy in Kabul. This is complete failure through weakness, incompetence, and total strategic incoherence."
SKY
Reuters had earlier reported his departure for Tajikistan, citing a senior interior ministry official.
But in a Facebook post late on Sunday, Mr Ghani said he was faced with a "hard choice" between the "armed Taliban" or "leaving the dear country that I dedicated my life to protecting the past 20 years".
"If left unchecked, countless patriots would be martyred and the city of Kabul would be devastated, resulting in a major humanitarian catastrophe in the six-million-strong city," he said.
"The Taliban had made it clear that they were ready to carry out a bloody attack on all of Kabul and the people of Kabul to oust me. In order to prevent a flood of bloodshed, I decided to leave."
His post confirmed Taliban officials' claims they have taken control of Afghanistan's presidential palace, alongside 11 districts of the capital.
It came amid reports of several explosions in city, despite the Taliban saying that they wanted a "peaceful transition of power".
Prime Minister Boris Johnson chaired a COBRA meeting on the Afghan crisis this evening after requesting to recall parliament from its summer break on Wednesday.
He said the UK and its international partners should work to ensure "Afghanistan does not become a breeding ground for terror" once again.
Mr Johnson added that the "situation remains difficult" and the world is facing a "change of regime in Kabul", but UK officials are working to get as many British nationals out of the country as it can "in the next few days".
British troops from the 16 Air Assault Brigade landed in Kabul on Sunday, while British Airways ordered its pilots to stay away from Afghan airspace over security concerns.
Other airlines are likely to follow suit, as flight paths over Afghanistan connect countries to India and the Far East.
The Home Office said it is working to "protect British nationals and help former UK staff and other eligible people travel to the UK".
A Foreign Office spokesperson said the UK had "reduced" its diplomatic presence in Afghanistan, "but our ambassador remains in Kabul and UK government staff continue to work to provide assistance to British nationals and to our Afghan staff".
According to The Sunday Telegraph, Britain's ambassador to Afghanistan Sir Laurie Bristow is going to be flown out of the country by tonight.
The Taliban has made rapid gains over the past week, with Western countries urgently deploying troops to assist with the evacuation of diplomatic staff.
US President Joe Biden announced he was sending 5,000 more troops to Kabul to help remove personnel - and the evacuation of the American embassy has now begun.
US diplomats have been urgently destroying sensitive documents and helicopters have been seen landing on the US embassy.
The Biden administration has warned Taliban officials any actions that put American personnel at risk "will be met with a swift and strong US military response".
Mr Biden has defended his decision to withdraw US troops from the country in the coming weeks, and said the task of fighting back against Taliban insurgents must fall to Afghan forces.
He warned that an indefinite American military presence in Afghanistan is not an option, and has vowed not to pass on the war to a fifth US president.
The president's handling of the crisis has attracted criticism from some American politicians, with his predecessor Donald Trump claiming that Mr Biden "gets it wrong every time on foreign policy".
In a strongly worded statement, Mr Trump said: "After I took out ISIS, I established a credible deterrent. That deterrent is now gone. The Taliban no longer has fear or respect for America, or America's power.
"What a disgrace it will be when the Taliban raises their flag over America's embassy in Kabul. This is complete failure through weakness, incompetence, and total strategic incoherence."
SKY
India's too are leaving. Thanks for coming now it's time to return home. Get out!
https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/ind...litz-report-2511142#pfrom=home-ndtv_topscroll
New Delhi: India is gearing up to evacuate hundreds of its officials and citizens from Kabul after Afghan President Ashraf Ghani left Afghanistan, setting the stage for the Taliban to recapture power in the country two decades after a US-led military invasion ousted it in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks.
Afghan media reported that Mr Ghani and his close aides have left the country with the Taliban on the brink of seizing control of Kabul after taking over almost all leading cities and provincial capitals.
As Afghanistan stares at an uncertain future with the imminent fall of Kabul into the hands of the Taliban, several countries including the US and the UK scrambled to evacuate their staff from the city that has been gripped by fear and panic.
People tracking developments in Afghanistan said India has prepared all contingencies and eventualities including evacuating its staff in its embassy in Kabul as well as Indian citizens stranded in the country.
It is learnt that a fleet of C-17 Globemaster military transport aircraft of the Indian Air Force is kept on standby to undertake evacuation missions.
The people cited above said India will not put the lives of its staffers at the embassy and its citizens in Kabul at any risk and plans have already been finalised in case they require emergency evacuation.
"The government is closely monitoring fast-paced developments in Afghanistan. We will not put the lives of our staff at the Indian Embassy in Kabul at any risk," said a source.
However, there is no official comment from India on the fast-paced developments in Afghanistan.
In the last few days, the Taliban fighters have swept through most parts of the country, seizing control of around 25 of 34 provincial capitals including cities such as Kandahar, Herat, Mazar-e-Sharif and Jalalabad.
Afghan media quoted acting defence minister Bismillah Mohammadi as saying that President Ghani handed the authority of solving the "crisis" in the country to political leaders.
Mr Mohammadi said that a delegation will travel to Doha on Monday for talks on the country''s situation.
Abdullah Abdullah, the chairman of Afghanistan's High Council for National Reconciliation, appeared to criticise Mr Ghani for leaving the country and said "God will hold him accountable and the nation will also judge."
Former Afghan president Hamid Karzai said on Twitter that a coordinating council comprising himself, Abdullah Abdullah and Gulbuddin Hekmatyar has been formed for transfer of power following President Ghani''s departure.
Earlier in the day, the Afghan Presidential Palace said on Twitter that the situation was under control in Kabul and it has not been attacked, though there were instances of sporadic gunshots.
It said Afghan security forces were working with international partners to ensure the security of Kabul.
"Kabul has not been attacked. The country's security and defence forces are working together with international partners to ensure the security of the city and the situation is under control," the statement in Pashto said.
Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken described the Taliban's onslaught and the imminent fall of Kabul as "heart-wrenching stuff".
"We went to Afghanistan 20 years ago with one mission, and that mission was to deal with the folks who attacked us on 9/11. And we have succeeded in that mission," Mr Blinken told CNN's "State of the Union" programme.
"The objective that we set, bringing those who attacked us to justice, making sure that they couldn't attack us again from Afghanistan - we've succeeded in that mission, and in fact, we succeeded a while ago," he said.
"And at the same time, remaining in Afghanistan for another one, five, ten years is not in the national interest," he added.
The Taliban made rapid advances across Afghanistan by resorting to widespread violence since the United States began withdrawing its troops from the country on May 1.
https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/ind...litz-report-2511142#pfrom=home-ndtv_topscroll
New Delhi: India is gearing up to evacuate hundreds of its officials and citizens from Kabul after Afghan President Ashraf Ghani left Afghanistan, setting the stage for the Taliban to recapture power in the country two decades after a US-led military invasion ousted it in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks.
Afghan media reported that Mr Ghani and his close aides have left the country with the Taliban on the brink of seizing control of Kabul after taking over almost all leading cities and provincial capitals.
As Afghanistan stares at an uncertain future with the imminent fall of Kabul into the hands of the Taliban, several countries including the US and the UK scrambled to evacuate their staff from the city that has been gripped by fear and panic.
People tracking developments in Afghanistan said India has prepared all contingencies and eventualities including evacuating its staff in its embassy in Kabul as well as Indian citizens stranded in the country.
It is learnt that a fleet of C-17 Globemaster military transport aircraft of the Indian Air Force is kept on standby to undertake evacuation missions.
The people cited above said India will not put the lives of its staffers at the embassy and its citizens in Kabul at any risk and plans have already been finalised in case they require emergency evacuation.
"The government is closely monitoring fast-paced developments in Afghanistan. We will not put the lives of our staff at the Indian Embassy in Kabul at any risk," said a source.
However, there is no official comment from India on the fast-paced developments in Afghanistan.
In the last few days, the Taliban fighters have swept through most parts of the country, seizing control of around 25 of 34 provincial capitals including cities such as Kandahar, Herat, Mazar-e-Sharif and Jalalabad.
Afghan media quoted acting defence minister Bismillah Mohammadi as saying that President Ghani handed the authority of solving the "crisis" in the country to political leaders.
Mr Mohammadi said that a delegation will travel to Doha on Monday for talks on the country''s situation.
Abdullah Abdullah, the chairman of Afghanistan's High Council for National Reconciliation, appeared to criticise Mr Ghani for leaving the country and said "God will hold him accountable and the nation will also judge."
Former Afghan president Hamid Karzai said on Twitter that a coordinating council comprising himself, Abdullah Abdullah and Gulbuddin Hekmatyar has been formed for transfer of power following President Ghani''s departure.
Earlier in the day, the Afghan Presidential Palace said on Twitter that the situation was under control in Kabul and it has not been attacked, though there were instances of sporadic gunshots.
It said Afghan security forces were working with international partners to ensure the security of Kabul.
"Kabul has not been attacked. The country's security and defence forces are working together with international partners to ensure the security of the city and the situation is under control," the statement in Pashto said.
Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken described the Taliban's onslaught and the imminent fall of Kabul as "heart-wrenching stuff".
"We went to Afghanistan 20 years ago with one mission, and that mission was to deal with the folks who attacked us on 9/11. And we have succeeded in that mission," Mr Blinken told CNN's "State of the Union" programme.
"The objective that we set, bringing those who attacked us to justice, making sure that they couldn't attack us again from Afghanistan - we've succeeded in that mission, and in fact, we succeeded a while ago," he said.
"And at the same time, remaining in Afghanistan for another one, five, ten years is not in the national interest," he added.
The Taliban made rapid advances across Afghanistan by resorting to widespread violence since the United States began withdrawing its troops from the country on May 1.
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Scenes from Kabul Airport
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">The situation at Kabul airport is worsening with the airport still taking fire.<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Kabul?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Kabul</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Taliban?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Taliban</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Afghanistan?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Afghanistan</a> <a href="https://t.co/vqg7jvs1CA">pic.twitter.com/vqg7jvs1CA</a></p>— Wajahat Kazmi (@KazmiWajahat) <a href="https://twitter.com/KazmiWajahat/status/1426991772069150724?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 15, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">The situation at Kabul airport is worsening with the airport still taking fire.<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Kabul?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Kabul</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Taliban?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Taliban</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Afghanistan?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Afghanistan</a> <a href="https://t.co/vqg7jvs1CA">pic.twitter.com/vqg7jvs1CA</a></p>— Wajahat Kazmi (@KazmiWajahat) <a href="https://twitter.com/KazmiWajahat/status/1426991772069150724?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 15, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
WhenSultansBowled
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More scenes from Kabul Airport.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">People boarding a C-17 at Kabul Airport <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Afghanistan?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Afghanistan</a> <br> <a href="https://t.co/47rLrfaWAB">pic.twitter.com/47rLrfaWAB</a></p>— Intel Air & Sea (@air_intel) <a href="https://twitter.com/air_intel/status/1426948860409229317?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 15, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">People boarding a C-17 at Kabul Airport <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Afghanistan?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Afghanistan</a> <br> <a href="https://t.co/47rLrfaWAB">pic.twitter.com/47rLrfaWAB</a></p>— Intel Air & Sea (@air_intel) <a href="https://twitter.com/air_intel/status/1426948860409229317?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 15, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
WhenSultansBowled
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Chief Destroyer
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Western secularism failed.
WhenSultansBowled
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Total Taliban military and propaganda victory. The USA is now forever irrelevant in matters of freedom. �� <a href="https://t.co/MdR4NtUfE9">pic.twitter.com/MdR4NtUfE9</a></p>— Mats ☮ Nilsson (@mazzenilsson) <a href="https://twitter.com/mazzenilsson/status/1426870680142983178?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 15, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
ahmedzee
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The way the Afghan military supposedly trained by the American's capitulated in front of the Taliban suggests they were planted there by them. It is so hard to believe how they did not show the slightest resistance. Not only were they in cahoots with the Taliban but were clearly making fun of the American's too during training sessions
OMG! I haven't laughed in a while. The afghan armymen are hilarious the way they are training. Even a gang can overrun an army full of these jokers.
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Reports of Afghan protesters chanting "shame shame Pakistan" outside the White House in the US as they blame the country for the Taliban's re-emergence.
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dont understand why you making a movie comparison to this?
Really sad of what has happened and this could have been anyone of us in Pakistan..
Make this even sweeter, Just Indian sponsored propaganda, let them keep crying.
So Biden is delusional and senile... what else is new?
300k Afghan security forces surrendering to 75k Taliban is also Pakistan's fault.
) These guys literally think Pakistan is controlling Taliban like puppets. I think they are living 25 years in the past. Taliban have significant support in their own country.
street cricketer
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Near impossible to implement secularism in a place like Afghanistan which is arguably the most religiously conservative country in the world. Not sure that was the aim of western countries even with Ghani's government.
I mean, the Taliban punish even the muslims for something as trivial as shaving, forget about the minorities in Afghanistan. Secularism was never going to happen there in a million years.
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They definitely attempted and the best they could manage was a city. Failed in spectacular fashion.
Every other Muslim country, they've managed to at least trickle in some modern western philosophy. It took them 20 years to learn it just wasn't gonna happen in Afghanistan.
What? it is indeed due to pak but thats for the good for Paks offensive
BTW, how many refugees have entered Pakistan? today
300k Afghan security forces surrendering to 75k Taliban is also Pakistan's fault.
Yes, but Pakistan army is supporting with arms , its a known fact..why the shame?
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I don't know about the other links, but the twitter account you have posted seems to be a fake one.
I'm no intelligence specialist but it's not hard to identify fake profiles. An account with a kashmiri muslim name with an Indian flag beside his username and speaking with overzealous Indian patriotism, you can bet your bottom dollar that the account is 90% fake and is likely to be operated by an Indian.
I just had a cursory glance at some of the tweets posted by that twitter account, an Afghan lady calling Indians 'pajeets' and throwing slurs at hindus with a generic username and a generic dp, I'm pretty sure that's fake brother. More likely to be a Pakistani bloke than an Afghan lady. There are a lot of fake accounts existing to peddle the narrative of both sides in both India and Pakistan.
street cricketer
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I think you're talking about western style democracy and not western style secularism.
Malaysia as a country is eons ahead of Afghanistan and Malaysia is not a secular country. Afghanistan is the last place I expect to be secular. Afghanistan whether it was going to be under Ghani, Karzai or the Afghan king or the Taliban was never going to be secular like the western societies.
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They wanted to separate religion and state. Constitutionally at least, Malaysia is supposed to be secular but I'm not talking about the countries. I'm talking about the people, particularly the young and impressionable.
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US troops are taking control of Kabul's international airport, while desperate residents try to flee the city after the Taliban seized Afghanistan.
The US military has secured the site and is taking over air traffic control to evacuate American and allied staff.
But commercial flights have mostly been suspended, stranding hundreds of Afghans and other foreign nationals.
The Taliban claimed victory after the government collapsed on Sunday. President Ashraf Ghani has fled abroad.
The militants' return to rule has brought to a swift end almost 20 years of a US-led coalition's presence in the country.
Kabul was the last major city in Afghanistan to hold out against a Taliban offensive that began months ago but accelerated in recent days as they gained control of territories, shocking many observers.
The Islamist group was able to seize control after most foreign troops pulled out.
At the weekend US President Joe Biden defended the withdrawal of American troops, saying he could not justify an "endless American presence in the middle of another country's civil conflict".
The US military has secured the site and is taking over air traffic control to evacuate American and allied staff.
But commercial flights have mostly been suspended, stranding hundreds of Afghans and other foreign nationals.
The Taliban claimed victory after the government collapsed on Sunday. President Ashraf Ghani has fled abroad.
The militants' return to rule has brought to a swift end almost 20 years of a US-led coalition's presence in the country.
Kabul was the last major city in Afghanistan to hold out against a Taliban offensive that began months ago but accelerated in recent days as they gained control of territories, shocking many observers.
The Islamist group was able to seize control after most foreign troops pulled out.
At the weekend US President Joe Biden defended the withdrawal of American troops, saying he could not justify an "endless American presence in the middle of another country's civil conflict".
ahmedzee
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I want you to give me one proof, one single proof that this Taliban is supported by arms by Pakistan.
You are just firing in the air freely, sounds more like a verbal dirrhea. Taliban are currently using soviet era weapons and 30 year old American weapons technology. The army they were against would’ve been defeated by street gangs. Also part of this capture was political settlements made by Taliban. So now, show us the proof, or please shut up for good.
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KABUL:
The Taliban declared the war in Afghanistan over after taking control of the presidential palace in Kabul while Western nations scrambled on Monday to evacuate their citizens amid chaos at the airport as frantic Afghans searched for a way out.
President Ashraf Ghani fled the country on Sunday as fighters from the group entered the capital virtually unopposed, saying he wanted to avoid bloodshed, while hundreds of Afghans desperate to leave flooded Kabul airport.
"Today is a great day for the Afghan people and the mujahideen. They have witnessed the fruits of their efforts and their sacrifices for 20 years," Mohammad Naeem, the spokesman for the Taliban's political office, told Al Jazeera TV.
"Thanks to God, the war is over in the country."
It took the Taliban just over a week to seize control of the country after a lightning sweep that ended in Kabul as government forces, trained for years and equipped by the United States and others at a cost of billions of dollars, melted away.
Al Jazeera broadcast footage of what it said were Taliban commanders in the presidential palace with dozens of armed fighters.
Naeem said the form of the new regime in Afghanistan would be made clear soon, adding the Taliban did not want to live in isolation and calling for peaceful international relations.
"We have reached what we were seeking, which is the freedom of our country and the independence of our people," he said. "We will not allow anyone to use our lands to target anyone, and we do not want to harm others."
A Taliban leader told Reuters the fighters were regrouping from different provinces and would wait until foreign forces had left before creating a new governance structure.
The leader, who requested anonymity, said Taliban fighters had been "ordered to allow Afghans to resume daily activities and do nothing to scare civilians".
"Normal life will continue in a much better way, that's all I can say for now," he told Reuters in a message.
Read: Ghani flies out of Afghanistan as Kabul falls to Taliban
Central Kabul streets were largely deserted early on a sunny Monday as waking residents pondered their future.
"I'm in a complete state of shock," said Sherzad Karim Stanekzai, who spent the night in his carpet shop to guard it. "I know there will be no foreigners, no international people who will now come to Kabul."
The group sought to project a more moderate face, promising to respect women's rights and protect both foreigners and Afghans.
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern called for the Taliban to uphold human rights and said the world was watching: "It's going to be all about the actions, not the words."
Shame
A US State Department spokesperson said early on Monday that all embassy personnel, including Ambassador Ross Wilson, had been transferred to Kabul airport, mostly by helicopter, to await evacuation and the American flag had been lowered and removed from the embassy compound.
Hundreds of Afghans invaded the airport's runways in the dark, pulling luggage and jostling for a place on one of the last commercial flights to leave before US forces took over air traffic control on Sunday.
"This is our airport but we are seeing diplomats being evacuated while we wait in complete uncertainty," said Rakhshanda Jilali, a human rights activist who was trying to get to Pakistan, told Reuters in a message from the airport.
US forces managing the airport fired into the air to stop Afghans surging onto the tarmac to try to board a military flight, a US official said.
Dozens of men tried to clamber up onto an overhead departure gangway to board a plane while hundreds of others milled about, a video posted on social media showed.
The Pentagon on Sunday authorized another 1,000 troops to help evacuate US citizens and Afghans who worked for them, expanding its security presence on the ground to almost 6,000 troops within the next 48 hours.
More than 60 western countries, including the United States, Britain, France and Japan, issued a joint statement saying all Afghans and international citizens who wanted to leave must be allowed to do so.
Western nations, including France, Germany and New Zealand said they were working to get citizens as well as some Afghan employees out. Russia said it saw no need to evacuate its embassy for the time being while Turkey said its embassy would continue operations.
In a Facebook post, Ghani said he had left the country to avoid clashes with the Taliban that would endanger millions of Kabul residents. Some social media users branded Ghani, who did not disclose his location, a coward for leaving them in chaos.
'Failed experience'
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged all parties to exercise the utmost restraint and expressed particular concern about the future of women and girls.
In Washington, opponents of President Joe Biden's decision to end America's longest war, launched after the Sept 11, 2001, attacks, said the chaos was caused by a failure of leadership.
Biden has faced rising domestic criticism after sticking to a plan, initiated by his Republican predecessor, Donald Trump, to end the U.S. military mission by Aug. 31.
Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell blamed Biden for what he called a "shameful failure of American leadership".
"Terrorists and major competitors like China are watching the embarrassment of a superpower laid low," McConnell said.
Naeem said the Taliban would adopt an international policy of two-way non-interference. "We do not think that foreign forces will repeat their failed experience."
The Taliban declared the war in Afghanistan over after taking control of the presidential palace in Kabul while Western nations scrambled on Monday to evacuate their citizens amid chaos at the airport as frantic Afghans searched for a way out.
President Ashraf Ghani fled the country on Sunday as fighters from the group entered the capital virtually unopposed, saying he wanted to avoid bloodshed, while hundreds of Afghans desperate to leave flooded Kabul airport.
"Today is a great day for the Afghan people and the mujahideen. They have witnessed the fruits of their efforts and their sacrifices for 20 years," Mohammad Naeem, the spokesman for the Taliban's political office, told Al Jazeera TV.
"Thanks to God, the war is over in the country."
It took the Taliban just over a week to seize control of the country after a lightning sweep that ended in Kabul as government forces, trained for years and equipped by the United States and others at a cost of billions of dollars, melted away.
Al Jazeera broadcast footage of what it said were Taliban commanders in the presidential palace with dozens of armed fighters.
Naeem said the form of the new regime in Afghanistan would be made clear soon, adding the Taliban did not want to live in isolation and calling for peaceful international relations.
"We have reached what we were seeking, which is the freedom of our country and the independence of our people," he said. "We will not allow anyone to use our lands to target anyone, and we do not want to harm others."
A Taliban leader told Reuters the fighters were regrouping from different provinces and would wait until foreign forces had left before creating a new governance structure.
The leader, who requested anonymity, said Taliban fighters had been "ordered to allow Afghans to resume daily activities and do nothing to scare civilians".
"Normal life will continue in a much better way, that's all I can say for now," he told Reuters in a message.
Read: Ghani flies out of Afghanistan as Kabul falls to Taliban
Central Kabul streets were largely deserted early on a sunny Monday as waking residents pondered their future.
"I'm in a complete state of shock," said Sherzad Karim Stanekzai, who spent the night in his carpet shop to guard it. "I know there will be no foreigners, no international people who will now come to Kabul."
The group sought to project a more moderate face, promising to respect women's rights and protect both foreigners and Afghans.
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern called for the Taliban to uphold human rights and said the world was watching: "It's going to be all about the actions, not the words."
Shame
A US State Department spokesperson said early on Monday that all embassy personnel, including Ambassador Ross Wilson, had been transferred to Kabul airport, mostly by helicopter, to await evacuation and the American flag had been lowered and removed from the embassy compound.
Hundreds of Afghans invaded the airport's runways in the dark, pulling luggage and jostling for a place on one of the last commercial flights to leave before US forces took over air traffic control on Sunday.
"This is our airport but we are seeing diplomats being evacuated while we wait in complete uncertainty," said Rakhshanda Jilali, a human rights activist who was trying to get to Pakistan, told Reuters in a message from the airport.
US forces managing the airport fired into the air to stop Afghans surging onto the tarmac to try to board a military flight, a US official said.
Dozens of men tried to clamber up onto an overhead departure gangway to board a plane while hundreds of others milled about, a video posted on social media showed.
The Pentagon on Sunday authorized another 1,000 troops to help evacuate US citizens and Afghans who worked for them, expanding its security presence on the ground to almost 6,000 troops within the next 48 hours.
More than 60 western countries, including the United States, Britain, France and Japan, issued a joint statement saying all Afghans and international citizens who wanted to leave must be allowed to do so.
Western nations, including France, Germany and New Zealand said they were working to get citizens as well as some Afghan employees out. Russia said it saw no need to evacuate its embassy for the time being while Turkey said its embassy would continue operations.
In a Facebook post, Ghani said he had left the country to avoid clashes with the Taliban that would endanger millions of Kabul residents. Some social media users branded Ghani, who did not disclose his location, a coward for leaving them in chaos.
'Failed experience'
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged all parties to exercise the utmost restraint and expressed particular concern about the future of women and girls.
In Washington, opponents of President Joe Biden's decision to end America's longest war, launched after the Sept 11, 2001, attacks, said the chaos was caused by a failure of leadership.
Biden has faced rising domestic criticism after sticking to a plan, initiated by his Republican predecessor, Donald Trump, to end the U.S. military mission by Aug. 31.
Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell blamed Biden for what he called a "shameful failure of American leadership".
"Terrorists and major competitors like China are watching the embarrassment of a superpower laid low," McConnell said.
Naeem said the Taliban would adopt an international policy of two-way non-interference. "We do not think that foreign forces will repeat their failed experience."
ahmedzee
First Class Star
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- 4,020
I happen to read all reports from almost all sources put of Kabul. I didn’t hear a single life being lost today after Taliban occupied the city. Infact few pictures of a crowd receiving Taliban became a big internet sensation.
Compare that to the day Kabul was conquered by US and NATO back in 2001, there was bloodshed, lots of it and multiple bombardment.
I think this Taliban is a lot different from what we saw in the 90s (when I came the policies). The western media and a lot of Indians expected a blood bath. I didnt are one. Infact even govt members were allowed to stay or leave without any trouble.
Compare that to the day Kabul was conquered by US and NATO back in 2001, there was bloodshed, lots of it and multiple bombardment.
I think this Taliban is a lot different from what we saw in the 90s (when I came the policies). The western media and a lot of Indians expected a blood bath. I didnt are one. Infact even govt members were allowed to stay or leave without any trouble.
Varun
Senior Test Player
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Please. It's just been 6 hours. And the Taliban have vowed to "keep deaths to a minimum" at least until the US fully evacuates.
Let's look at this over the next year or so. I fully expect Afghanistan to end up like what Libya is currently.
Sure, everyone in Pakpassion posts with proof in their pocket - wasn't this known fact since ages
https://www.hrw.org/reports/2001/afghan2/Afghan0701-02.htm
ahmedzee
First Class Star
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Seems like you were expecting that narrative that there would be bloodshed.
Believe me when I say this, I am surprised too. That doesn’t change the fact that there was NO BLOODSHED.
I am comparing it was the invasion in Iraq and Afghanistan. Just look at it yourself, and if you find anything different, I will change my narrative.
ataullah
First Class Captain
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If you want an easy example of how the decree of Allāh works look at it this way;
It took 20 years for the US to 'try' and gain control of not only a country but it's population. Within 20 days (more or less), Tāliban took over the whole of Afghanistan.
Another amazing manifestation of the Conquest of Makkah in the life of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ.
May Allāh protect Afghanistan and it's people from the real enemies.
It took 20 years for the US to 'try' and gain control of not only a country but it's population. Within 20 days (more or less), Tāliban took over the whole of Afghanistan.
Another amazing manifestation of the Conquest of Makkah in the life of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ.
May Allāh protect Afghanistan and it's people from the real enemies.
- Joined
- Oct 2, 2004
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- 217,978
Taliban promises 'serenity' for nation in new video
The deputy leader of the Taliban says now is the time to provide for the people of Afghanistan and improve their lives.
The comments were made in a new video clip released by the militants, a day after fighters seized the capital Kabul and declared victory.
"Now is the time to trial, we will give services to our nation, we give serenity to the whole nation, that we will go as far as possible for the betterment of their lives," Mullah Baradar Akhund said to the camera while sitting amongst a group of other fighters.
"The way we have come through was unexpected as we have reached the position which was never expected," he also added.
The deputy leader of the Taliban says now is the time to provide for the people of Afghanistan and improve their lives.
The comments were made in a new video clip released by the militants, a day after fighters seized the capital Kabul and declared victory.
"Now is the time to trial, we will give services to our nation, we give serenity to the whole nation, that we will go as far as possible for the betterment of their lives," Mullah Baradar Akhund said to the camera while sitting amongst a group of other fighters.
"The way we have come through was unexpected as we have reached the position which was never expected," he also added.
Chief Destroyer
ODI Debutant
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- 10,763
The ground realities are always different than what the western propaganda machine will have you believe.
Greenstorm
T20I Debutant
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- 6,390
Most people are missing the bigger picture here as usual.
Regional stakeholders (Pakistan, China, Rus, Iran) have finally realized that Afghanistan is strategically too important to fail. There is a bigger game at play here and Afghan Taliban are just the pawns (although they do have majority public support in Afghanistan unlike previous regimes).
With the above stated background, the current proceedings in Afghanistan should not surprise us. The swift capture of outlying provinces and border crossings by Taliban, the encirclement of Kabul, humane treatment with non Pashtuns in captured provinces, the overall aversion from bloodshed. There is a small possibility that mullahs have evolved but evolution to this extent is unlikely.
Regional powers are guiding every move of Taliban and they will ensure the stability in Afghanistan by keeping Taliban and other factions in check. In coming weeks, many regional countries will officially recognize whatever government is formed at Kabul and subsequently Afghanistan will join OBOR. Pakistan will be interested in Pakistan-Afghanistan-Uzbekistan railway project and Peshawar-Kabul motorway.
I see a better future for Afghanistan, the region will prosper this decade.
Regional stakeholders (Pakistan, China, Rus, Iran) have finally realized that Afghanistan is strategically too important to fail. There is a bigger game at play here and Afghan Taliban are just the pawns (although they do have majority public support in Afghanistan unlike previous regimes).
With the above stated background, the current proceedings in Afghanistan should not surprise us. The swift capture of outlying provinces and border crossings by Taliban, the encirclement of Kabul, humane treatment with non Pashtuns in captured provinces, the overall aversion from bloodshed. There is a small possibility that mullahs have evolved but evolution to this extent is unlikely.
Regional powers are guiding every move of Taliban and they will ensure the stability in Afghanistan by keeping Taliban and other factions in check. In coming weeks, many regional countries will officially recognize whatever government is formed at Kabul and subsequently Afghanistan will join OBOR. Pakistan will be interested in Pakistan-Afghanistan-Uzbekistan railway project and Peshawar-Kabul motorway.
I see a better future for Afghanistan, the region will prosper this decade.
- Joined
- Oct 2, 2004
- Runs
- 217,978
- Joined
- Oct 2, 2004
- Runs
- 217,978
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Kabul: people who tied themselves to the plane wheels - fell off the plane <a href="https://t.co/Lm5YDbizlw">pic.twitter.com/Lm5YDbizlw</a></p>— Amichai Stein (@AmichaiStein1) <a href="https://twitter.com/AmichaiStein1/status/1427186370016067591?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 16, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Greenstorm
T20I Debutant
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Please don't compare this ragtag bunch of illiterate mullahs' capture of Kabul with the Holy conquest of Makkah. Taliban are no model Muslims, in fact they are far from it. Only positive attribute they have is resilience and courage, but then again many other nations have the same.
Americans could have stayed for 20 more years in Kabul and Taliban would not have captured it.
street cricketer
Test Debutant
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- Oct 14, 2015
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- 15,677
- Post of the Week
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What the effing hell did I just watch!
loves_cricket
Tape Ball Star
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- Aug 19, 2013
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- 691
Stop making this as india-Pakistan affair. Think about poor people of Afghanistan, who just wants a peaceful life.
Looking at pictures of airport today. People desperate to leave makes me very sad.
Looking at pictures of airport today. People desperate to leave makes me very sad.
Major
Test Star
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- Aug 28, 2013
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- 36,234
- Post of the Week
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pakistani and foreign pakistani people dont care based on what i have seen on social media.
They are enjoying this, laughing about it and are all praise for the taliban govt just because when the people came in the presidential palace they had islamic verses being played. And our people will always be in awe of such antics.
People are desperate to leave, the airport scenes were just sad and it could had been one of us.
Yet, we have some here who think the Taliban is changed and is better than any one else.
wasimjunior
Local Club Captain
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- Jun 8, 2013
- Runs
- 2,448
Can anyone summarise why Pakistan would back the Taliban? what is for them to gain? and why did the Ghani government hate Pakistan so much.
Also would be good to know how did the Taliban survive so long
Also would be good to know how did the Taliban survive so long
The Taliban rule by fear and force. This is not how a society should live. Nor is it how our Prophet pbuh ruled.
Bewal Express
Test Star
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- Nov 6, 2005
- Runs
- 39,736
The job of all govts is to bring peace and security and then utilise all its resources to bring the maximum benefit to the maxium number of people. Lets see if the Taliban see ruling as an end or means to an end.
There are examples of corporal punishment during rasoullah saw time such as cutting hands, executing people who disobeyed prophets orders muslim and a jew hazrat omar cut of the Muslims head.
And stoning of a adulterers
Fatima bint al aswad had her left hand cut off for stealing and it was ordered by rasoullah saw
Cpt. Rishwat
T20I Captain
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- 43,387
There are always going to be unhappy people whoever is in charge in Afghanistan. I don't blame those people for wanting to leave, but the truth is, vast majority believe Taliban are more likely to deliver peace than the Afghan govt mercenaries.
No regime should need foreign firepower to rule in their own country. That is why the western backed govt failed.
Major
Test Star
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Afghanistan was never free of the Talliban even when the USA was in the country. While civilian govt and USA controlled Kabul and major provinces of the country, there was a major chunk that belonged to the Taliban even before USA decided to pull out.
With USA presence there, the Taliban was always in retreat.
The Taliban existed in the parts of the country where there was no modern life technology. Basically they are people that prefer to live a lifestyle of the old times and they denounce modern technology and dont accept modern sociology.
Thus, you would see, they attract more followers from the undeveloped side of the country while they wont get support from places like Kabul or Mazar e Sharif.
Now the civilian govt backed by USA that existed hated Pakistan as Pakistan in the past had been backing the Taliban. Afghanis believe that the reasons why there country is in bad shape is because of Pakistan and its support for the Taliban.
One of the biggest mistake was when Trump started dialogue with Taliban leaders in Qatar and Imran Khan also vouching for this. This gave these Talibs some hope and allowed the mobilize themselves.
During the 20 years, Pakistan did nothing to mend their relations with the Afghanis. Yes they gave them places to stay but the Afghanis that lived here were just poor and were treated as 3rd class citizens. There was always that resentment from the Afghanis for the Pakistanis.
While at the same time India invested in the Afghan people. They were providing them free health care. There is a place in New Delhi called Saket where alot of Afghanis live. They go to New Delhi as free health care is provided to them and they are able to get operations and major surgeries there.
Thus, through such ways, India was able to build a rapport with Afghanistan, while Pakistan failed to do so. We barely took a few students under scholarship programs.
Pakistani locals back the Taliban govt as they are always in awe of someone who qoutes Islam and who promises to implement Shariah law. Even though majority of Pakistanis dont understand these laws and have no idea how they impact the life of common people. Yet you will find alot of Pakistanis and alike overseas Pakistanis enjoying liberal life in the west but calling for an Islamic govt in Kabul.
Pakistani govt backs the Taliban as they believe that now they have a govt in Afghanistan that will be favorable to them and not the Indians. Pakistan issue was why India had good relations with Afghanistan.
However, this myth will be broken eventually. Pakistan can have good relations with the govt of Afghanistan now, but the people of Afghanistan will always resent Pakistan. Pakistan thinks it is making gains with their flawed foreign policy while they are just creating problems for themselves in the long run.
Lets say if in 10 years this Taliban regime breaks, the Afghani people that will come into power will not have good relations with Pakistan.
Right now there are few issues:
1. Does TTP get motivated by this and start doing something similar in the Northern side of Pakistan? This is a possibility as the TTP gets training and support from the Afghan Taliban and some statements have been made by TTP recently.
2. Does China recognize the Taliban govt or not. If China recognizes them, than Pakistan will be forced to recognized as we cant say No to China. Now this situation could be tricky.
USA has said they will recognize the Taliban govt if they dont violate Human rights. So if USA does recognize them than it is no issue for anyone recognizing them.
If USA does not recognize them, China does and we have to aswell, than Pakistan could be branded as Terrorist state or terrorist supporting state which creates more problems for us as international forums.
OMB
First Class Captain
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Chaos at Kabul airport as Taliban retakes Afghanistan: Live News
At least five people are reported dead after panic rush of crowds at Kabul airport as Taliban seize power.
Updated:
11 minutes ago
The Taliban has declared the war in Afghanistan over after its fighters swept into the capital, Kabul, and President Ashraf Ghani fled the country.
Victorious Taliban fighters patrolled the streets of Kabul on Monday as thousands of Afghans mobbed the city’s airport trying to flee the group’s feared hardline brand of rule.
Meanwhile, many nations were scrambling to evacuate their diplomats, citizens and some local Afghan staff.
Al Jazeera’s Charlotte Bellis, reporting from Kabul, says “the airport has been the real crisis point of the roll-in of the Taliban”.
“Outside of that it has been relatively smooth. Security forces have for the most part laid down their weapons,” she says.
Mohammad Naeem, a spokesman for Taliban’s political office tells Al Jazeera the group does not want to live in isolation and says the type and form of the new government in Afghanistan will be made clear soon. He also calls for peaceful international relations.
The United Nations Security Council will discuss the situation in Afghanistan later on Monday.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/8/16/taliban-says-afghanistan-war-over-as-president-diplomats-flee
At least five people are reported dead after panic rush of crowds at Kabul airport as Taliban seize power.
Updated:
11 minutes ago
The Taliban has declared the war in Afghanistan over after its fighters swept into the capital, Kabul, and President Ashraf Ghani fled the country.
Victorious Taliban fighters patrolled the streets of Kabul on Monday as thousands of Afghans mobbed the city’s airport trying to flee the group’s feared hardline brand of rule.
Meanwhile, many nations were scrambling to evacuate their diplomats, citizens and some local Afghan staff.
Al Jazeera’s Charlotte Bellis, reporting from Kabul, says “the airport has been the real crisis point of the roll-in of the Taliban”.
“Outside of that it has been relatively smooth. Security forces have for the most part laid down their weapons,” she says.
Mohammad Naeem, a spokesman for Taliban’s political office tells Al Jazeera the group does not want to live in isolation and says the type and form of the new government in Afghanistan will be made clear soon. He also calls for peaceful international relations.
The United Nations Security Council will discuss the situation in Afghanistan later on Monday.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/8/16/taliban-says-afghanistan-war-over-as-president-diplomats-flee
WhenSultansBowled
T20I Debutant
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- Oct 10, 2015
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- 6,624
The Kabul Administration was a puppet show. The individuals were handpicked by invaders to do their bidding.
In the end, right when Americans left they cut the light and didn't even inform the puppets.
^So, Ghani the rat never had legitimacy to govern Afghanistan.
I wonder how much dollars in cash were loaded with him and flown outside Afghanistan...
OMB
First Class Captain
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- Dec 27, 2010
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- 4,288
Chaos at Kabul airport: PIA suspends flight operations over security concerns
Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) Monday suspended its Kabul flight operations over security concerns.
The decision is aimed at protecting the passengers, their assets, and the staff, says a spokesperson.
“There is no security and staff at the Kabul airport," says the official.
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) Monday suspended Kabul flight operations over security concerns as a large number of people gathered at the runway to flee from Afghanistan after the Taliban regained control of the capital.
A spokesperson of the national flag carrier said, “There is no security and staff at the Kabul airport and a large number of people have gathered at the runway.”
Two PIA aircraft carrying 499 passengers arrive in Islamabad from Kabul
He maintained that the airline made the decision after holding consultations with the Foreign Ministry and Civil Aviation Authority of Afghanistan. The decision is aimed at protecting the passengers, their assets, and the staff, he added.
The flight operations to Kabul will remain suspended for an unidentified period, said the spokesperson.
The airline had planned three flights between Islamabad and Kabul today to bring back a large number of Pakistanis and other nationals looking to leave Kabul.
Afghanistan's CAA advises transit aircraft to reroute
Earlier today, the Afghanistan Civil Aviation Authority (ACAA) said that Kabul airspace had been released to the military and that it advised transit aircraft to reroute, according to a notice to airmen on its website, hastening some airline route switches.
United Airlines, British Airways and Virgin Atlantic had already stopped using Afghanistan airspace after insurgents took control of the presidential palace in Kabul as US-led forces departed and Western nations scrambled on Monday to evacuate their citizens.
The ACAA said any transit through Kabul airspace would be uncontrolled and it had advised the surrounding flight information regions that control airspace.
Flight tracking website FlightRadar24 said on its Twitter account that an Air India flight from Chicago to Delhi had changed course and exited Afghanistan's airspace shortly after entering, while a Terra Avia flight from Baku to Delhi was also changing course.
The FAA said flights operating below 26,000 feet were prohibited in the Kabul Flight Information Region, which largely covers Afghanistan, unless operating in and out of Hamid Karzai International Airport, citing the risk "posed by extremist/militant activity."
The restrictions do not apply to US military operations.
Other countries, including Canada, Britain, Germany and France had also advised airlines to maintain an altitude of at least 25,000 feet over Afghanistan, according to website Safe Airspace, which tracks such warnings.
Commercial flights set to land in Afghanistan have also been affected by the chaos on the ground. Emirates has suspended flights to Afghanistan's capital, Kabul, until further notice, the airline said on its website.
PIA planes stuck at Kabul airport arrive in Islamabad
Two PIA aircraft that had been stuck at Kabul airport with a total of 499 passengers on board, were finally permitted to fly and arrived in Islamabad on Sunday.
One was a Boeing 777 which had 329 passengers, while the other was an Airbus 320 with 170 passengers.
Earlier, the aircraft were not being allowed the use of the runway to take off as the US military evacuated American diplomats.
Kabul airport sources had told Geo News that two helicopters belonging to the US military were blocking the runway.
The sources had said that the Kabul airport's air traffic control "has no control over what is happening". "All air traffic is being controlled by the US army soldiers," they had added.
https://www.geo.tv/latest/365527-chaos-at-kabul-airport-pia-suspends-flight-operations-over-security-concerns
Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) Monday suspended its Kabul flight operations over security concerns.
The decision is aimed at protecting the passengers, their assets, and the staff, says a spokesperson.
“There is no security and staff at the Kabul airport," says the official.
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) Monday suspended Kabul flight operations over security concerns as a large number of people gathered at the runway to flee from Afghanistan after the Taliban regained control of the capital.
A spokesperson of the national flag carrier said, “There is no security and staff at the Kabul airport and a large number of people have gathered at the runway.”
Two PIA aircraft carrying 499 passengers arrive in Islamabad from Kabul
He maintained that the airline made the decision after holding consultations with the Foreign Ministry and Civil Aviation Authority of Afghanistan. The decision is aimed at protecting the passengers, their assets, and the staff, he added.
The flight operations to Kabul will remain suspended for an unidentified period, said the spokesperson.
The airline had planned three flights between Islamabad and Kabul today to bring back a large number of Pakistanis and other nationals looking to leave Kabul.
Afghanistan's CAA advises transit aircraft to reroute
Earlier today, the Afghanistan Civil Aviation Authority (ACAA) said that Kabul airspace had been released to the military and that it advised transit aircraft to reroute, according to a notice to airmen on its website, hastening some airline route switches.
United Airlines, British Airways and Virgin Atlantic had already stopped using Afghanistan airspace after insurgents took control of the presidential palace in Kabul as US-led forces departed and Western nations scrambled on Monday to evacuate their citizens.
The ACAA said any transit through Kabul airspace would be uncontrolled and it had advised the surrounding flight information regions that control airspace.
Flight tracking website FlightRadar24 said on its Twitter account that an Air India flight from Chicago to Delhi had changed course and exited Afghanistan's airspace shortly after entering, while a Terra Avia flight from Baku to Delhi was also changing course.
The FAA said flights operating below 26,000 feet were prohibited in the Kabul Flight Information Region, which largely covers Afghanistan, unless operating in and out of Hamid Karzai International Airport, citing the risk "posed by extremist/militant activity."
The restrictions do not apply to US military operations.
Other countries, including Canada, Britain, Germany and France had also advised airlines to maintain an altitude of at least 25,000 feet over Afghanistan, according to website Safe Airspace, which tracks such warnings.
Commercial flights set to land in Afghanistan have also been affected by the chaos on the ground. Emirates has suspended flights to Afghanistan's capital, Kabul, until further notice, the airline said on its website.
PIA planes stuck at Kabul airport arrive in Islamabad
Two PIA aircraft that had been stuck at Kabul airport with a total of 499 passengers on board, were finally permitted to fly and arrived in Islamabad on Sunday.
One was a Boeing 777 which had 329 passengers, while the other was an Airbus 320 with 170 passengers.
Earlier, the aircraft were not being allowed the use of the runway to take off as the US military evacuated American diplomats.
Kabul airport sources had told Geo News that two helicopters belonging to the US military were blocking the runway.
The sources had said that the Kabul airport's air traffic control "has no control over what is happening". "All air traffic is being controlled by the US army soldiers," they had added.
https://www.geo.tv/latest/365527-chaos-at-kabul-airport-pia-suspends-flight-operations-over-security-concerns
OMB
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China says ready for 'friendly relations' with Taliban after Kabul takeover
China is ready to deepen “friendly and cooperative” relations with Afghanistan, a government spokeswoman said on Monday, after the Taliban seized control of the country.
Beijing has sought to maintain unofficial ties with the Taliban throughout the US' withdrawal from Afghanistan, which spurred an advance by the hardliners across the country that saw them capture the capital Kabul on Sunday.
China shares a rugged 76-kilometre border with Afghanistan.
Beijing has long feared Afghanistan could become a staging point for minority Uyghur separatists in the sensitive border region of Xinjiang.
But a top-level Taliban delegation met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Tianjin last month, promising that Afghanistan would not be used as a base for militants.
In exchange, China offered economic support and investment for Afghanistan's reconstruction.
On Monday, China said it “welcomed” the chance to deepen ties with Afghanistan, a country that has for generations been coveted for its geo-strategic importance by bigger powers.
“The Taliban have repeatedly expressed their hope to develop good relations with China, and that they look forward to China's participation in the reconstruction and development of Afghanistan,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told reporters.
“We welcome this. China respects the right of the Afghan people to independently determine their own destiny and is willing to continue to develop ... friendly and cooperative relations with Afghanistan.”
Hua called on the Taliban to “ensure a smooth transition” of power and keep its promises to negotiate the establishment of an “open and inclusive Islamic government” and ensure the safety of Afghans and foreign citizens.
China's embassy in Kabul remains operational, Hua said, although Beijing began evacuating Chinese citizens from the country months ago amid the deteriorating security situation.
In a statement on Monday, the embassy told Chinese citizens remaining in Afghanistan to “pay close attention to the security situation” and stay indoors.
US President Joe Biden promised a complete withdrawal of US troops by September 11, marking an end to two decades of war.
But Washington was left shocked by the rapid collapse of the Afghan government and the Taliban's sweeping advance.
China has repeatedly criticised what it sees as the US' hasty withdrawal from Afghanistan as a failure of leadership.
Stability and business
The Taliban's takeover opens a strategic door to China laden with both risk and opportunity.
Maintaining stability after decades of war in its western neighbour will be Beijing's main consideration, as it seeks to secure its borders and strategic infrastructure investments in Pakistan.
For Beijing, a stable and cooperative administration in Kabul would pave the way for an expansion of its Belt and Road Initiative into Afghanistan and through the Central Asian republics, analysts say.
The Taliban meanwhile may consider China a crucial source of investment and economic support.
China has so far stopped short of officially recognising the Taliban as the new leaders of Afghanistan, but Wang Yi called them a “decisive military and political force” during last month's meeting in Tianjin.
https://www.dawn.com/news/1641000/china-says-ready-for-friendly-relations-with-taliban-after-kabul-takeover
China is ready to deepen “friendly and cooperative” relations with Afghanistan, a government spokeswoman said on Monday, after the Taliban seized control of the country.
Beijing has sought to maintain unofficial ties with the Taliban throughout the US' withdrawal from Afghanistan, which spurred an advance by the hardliners across the country that saw them capture the capital Kabul on Sunday.
China shares a rugged 76-kilometre border with Afghanistan.
Beijing has long feared Afghanistan could become a staging point for minority Uyghur separatists in the sensitive border region of Xinjiang.
But a top-level Taliban delegation met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Tianjin last month, promising that Afghanistan would not be used as a base for militants.
In exchange, China offered economic support and investment for Afghanistan's reconstruction.
On Monday, China said it “welcomed” the chance to deepen ties with Afghanistan, a country that has for generations been coveted for its geo-strategic importance by bigger powers.
“The Taliban have repeatedly expressed their hope to develop good relations with China, and that they look forward to China's participation in the reconstruction and development of Afghanistan,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told reporters.
“We welcome this. China respects the right of the Afghan people to independently determine their own destiny and is willing to continue to develop ... friendly and cooperative relations with Afghanistan.”
Hua called on the Taliban to “ensure a smooth transition” of power and keep its promises to negotiate the establishment of an “open and inclusive Islamic government” and ensure the safety of Afghans and foreign citizens.
China's embassy in Kabul remains operational, Hua said, although Beijing began evacuating Chinese citizens from the country months ago amid the deteriorating security situation.
In a statement on Monday, the embassy told Chinese citizens remaining in Afghanistan to “pay close attention to the security situation” and stay indoors.
US President Joe Biden promised a complete withdrawal of US troops by September 11, marking an end to two decades of war.
But Washington was left shocked by the rapid collapse of the Afghan government and the Taliban's sweeping advance.
China has repeatedly criticised what it sees as the US' hasty withdrawal from Afghanistan as a failure of leadership.
Stability and business
The Taliban's takeover opens a strategic door to China laden with both risk and opportunity.
Maintaining stability after decades of war in its western neighbour will be Beijing's main consideration, as it seeks to secure its borders and strategic infrastructure investments in Pakistan.
For Beijing, a stable and cooperative administration in Kabul would pave the way for an expansion of its Belt and Road Initiative into Afghanistan and through the Central Asian republics, analysts say.
The Taliban meanwhile may consider China a crucial source of investment and economic support.
China has so far stopped short of officially recognising the Taliban as the new leaders of Afghanistan, but Wang Yi called them a “decisive military and political force” during last month's meeting in Tianjin.
https://www.dawn.com/news/1641000/china-says-ready-for-friendly-relations-with-taliban-after-kabul-takeover
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Video: People run on tarmac of Kabul international airport as a US military aircraft attempts to take off. <a href="https://t.co/9qA36HS0WQ">pic.twitter.com/9qA36HS0WQ</a></p>— TOLOnews (@TOLOnews) <a href="https://twitter.com/TOLOnews/status/1427204278695997442?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 16, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Read the hadith and some Islamic history, to understand HOW these were implemented.
The Muslims did not go from town to town executing people, cutting off hands and bringing death to anyone who disobeyed.
Take stoning and adultery for example. A man came to the Prophet pbuh and said he had committed adultery. The Prophet turned away from this man 3 or 4 times, then when the man continued to admit adultery, he was asked if he was crazy, and then his breath was smelt to ascertain if he was drunk. The Prophet pbuh was attempting to find ANY excuse for this man.
When no excuse had been found and the man kept admitting his guilt, he was sentenced to whips and stoning. During the whipping, the man finally said he retracted his statement. Those prescribing the punishment felt it was too late, and stoned him.
When the Prophet pbuh heard this, he asked them why did they kill him?
Another example, is of the women who said she had committed adultery and was now pregnant. The Prophet pbuh again turned her away. After she kept insisting, he told her to go away and give birth to the child. After giving birth to the child, she came back again and the Prophet pbuh told her to wean the child. Two years went by, and she came back AGAIN, and admitted adultery. At this point, there was no choice left but to go ahead with the punishment. The Prophet pbuh had given the woman every opportunity to go and live her life and repent.
Consider the rules around proving adultery, the 4 steadfast, righteous witnesses who have to have seen the actual insertion of the male sexual organ into the female. Even a man laying a top a woman is not enough evidence to prove adultery. It is pretty much impossible to prove adultery if not literally doing it in public.
In regards to the cutting of hands, Hazrat Umar himself took this punishment off the table in times of hardship. Look at the state of the people in Afghanistan. How can you cut off the hands of desperate people? You would have a society of people without hands. Do you think this would happen in the first instance if caught stealing? What is it that was stolen?
Let's take Girls education. Hazrat Aisha herself is the most quoted woman in the hadith when it comes to Islamic Jurisprudence. Where are Afghanistan's lawyers going to come from? Their doctors? Who are the gynecologists going to be? Why is girls education even a topic of debate or discussion in Afghanistan???
And what of the role of the Taliban in opium production and making money from it?
People are so quick to talk about corporal punishment, but hardly ever talk about the mercy the Prophet pbuh showed. What sins Allah covers by the night is nobody else's business but the people it concerns and Allah. You cannot micro police society like this, under the threat of death and punishment. This is not our faith.
I am not saying that the puppet government would fare better, and that the Taliban will not bring some order, but to conflate them as if they're heroes of Islam is not right. These are vicious, brutal, harsh people with little mercy or compassion.
Would you want to live under the Taliban? Would you want your wife, daughter, sister or mother living under their rule?
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Afghanistan is poised for an announcement that it is now the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, under Sharia law, after the Taliban swept to power.
It follows a spokesman for the group telling AP it is holding talks aimed at forming an "open, inclusive Islamic government" and the deputy leader of the group releasing a video saying it plans to "give serenity to the whole nation".
Taliban officials have declared the war is over and it is in charge of 90% of government buildings, amid allegations of revenge killings, brutal tactics, and some looting and lawlessness.
Afghanistan live updates: All the latest as the Taliban establish new government
But, amid the statements, chaotic scenes are unfolding at Kabul's international airport with thousands of people trying to get past a cordon to aircraft that are evacuating diplomatic staff.
A spokesperson for the German government said no flights are leaving Kabul airport at the moment because desperate people trying to flee the country are blocking the tarmac - something later confirmed to Reuters by an unnamed US defence official.
Germany's chancellor Angela Merkel had said the country hoped to evacuate 10,000 staff, civilians and Afghans it has worked with, but an official later changed that pledge to as many as possible, with no concrete figure.
Footage has emerged, which Sky News has not been able to verify, of an Apache helicopter being used to clear a runway as a C-17 military transport plane comes in to land.
Five people are reported to have been killed as US troops guarded the evacuation of embassy staff but it was not immediately clear how they died.
Who are the Taliban, what is their history and what do they want for the country?
A US official said soldiers had fired in the air to deter people trying to force their way onto a military flight that was set to take US diplomats and embassy staff out of the fallen city.
An official described the crowd trying to get onto the tarmac at the airport as "out of control" and other images showed people climbing on to an airbridge that allows people to walk onto an aircraft from a terminal and onto the undercarriage housing of a military plane taxiing along the runway.
Other footage distributed by Afghan media and on social media was said to show at least one person falling from the undercarriage of a military plane that had taken off.
British and US forces are on the ground in the military side of the airport and the US said it would focus intensively on securing Kabul airport with additional US forces being flown in to help achieve the aim.
Afghanistan's aviation authorities said the "civilian side" of the airport had been "closed until further notice" and there were reports the US military had taken over air traffic control to ensure safety in the region, with many carriers saying they would be avoiding airspace above the country.
Crowds gather at Kabul Airport amid evacuation
Image:
Crowds gather at Kabul Airport amid evacuation
Sky's Stuart Ramsay, who is near the airport, said the sound of gunfire he has heard is thought to be the military attempting to keep people out of the airport, but says in the rest of Kabul the people are already dressing differently, as the Taliban take over.
He said he understands the airport has been surrounded by razor wire in an attempt to make it secure.
It comes as many of the countries which have been involved in the efforts to rebuild the country amid two decades of war with the Taliban started pulling out their diplomatic staff and continued attempting to evacuate their civilians and Afghans who had helped them.
Among the countries planning to pull out staff was Russia, which launched an invasion in 1979 and fought mujahideen including members of the Taliban during a 10-year war. It came as the Taliban deployed guards to the Russian embassy.
The first group of evacuated Britons and embassy staff arrived at RAF Brize Norton last night, the Ministry of Defence confirmed.
There were reported to be 4,000 Britons in Afghanistan and the UK has said it plans to ramp up efforts to evacuate up to 1,500 people from Afghanistan a day.
A US defence official said his country's aim was to extract tens of thousands of at-risk Afghans who worked for the US
government with a view to temporarily housing them at Fort McCoy in Wisconsin and Fort Bliss in Texas.
The Taliban, who ruled from 1996 to 2001 until a US-led invasion reduced them to conducting a guerrilla war, have routed the US-backed government's forces following a US decision to pull out its troops.
President Ashraf Ghani fled the country on Sunday as the Islamists began to enter Kabul virtually unopposed - despite ongoing but short-lived resistance elsewhere - saying he wanted to avoid bloodshed.
But Russia's embassy in Kabul said the next day that he had fled with four cars and a helicopter full of cash, and had to leave some money behind as it would not all fit in.
There were reports that around 100 Afghan soldiers had also managed to escape by flying to Tajikistan and also that an Afghan air force jet had been shot down in Uzbekistan airspace, with the condition of any pilots unconfirmed.
Taliban says its 'type of rule' will become clear soon after President Ashraf Ghani flees
Taliban spokesperson Suhail Shaheen said in a message on Twitter its fighters were under strict orders not to harm anyone and on Monday it put out videos showing quiet city streets in Kabul as fighters manned major intersections.
A Taliban official said its fighters in Kabul had started collecting weapons from civilians on Monday because people no longer need them for personal protection.
The Russia-led security bloc CTSO, which includes central Asian states such as Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, but excludes Uzbekistan, said it was deeply concerned the Taliban taking control in Afghanistan will have a significant impact on the situation in Central Asia.
Footage released by the Taliban shows them checking cars at road checkpoints going into the city of Kabul, Afghanistan
Russia is said to be talking to the US about the deteriorating situation.
President Joe Biden, whose order pulling out US troops from the country preceded the Taliban surge, was seen at his Camp David retreat on Sunday, alone in a conference room meeting virtually with military, diplomatic and intelligence experts.
US officials are said to be stunned by how quickly the Taliban have overcome Afghan forces, despite the billions spent on military hardware and training to equip them for the fight.
While Mr Biden has yet to speak publicly, US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said the Afghan military was to blame. "We could not give them the will and ultimately they decided that they would not fight for Kabul," he said.
Not all foreigners were pulling out. Doctors Without Borders (MSF) and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said their operations across Afghanistan have continued and the United Nation's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Aid (OCHA) said it and its partners "are staying and delivering to people in need".
China said its embassy remained open in Kabul and it was willing to help reconstruct the country, and while not commenting on whether Beijing would recognize the Taliban as the new government, said it would respect the choice of the Afghan people.
Saudi Arabia expressed similar sentiments, calling on the Taliban and "all Afghan parties" to preserve lives and property and expressing hope that the situation in the central Asian state stabilises as soon as possible.
A meeting of the 15-member UN Security Council was due to take place at 3pm UK time, after a request from Estonia and Norway, both of which were part of the ISAF coalition which battled the Taliban during the last two decades.
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi said on Monday the United States' "military failure" presented an opportunity to establish lasting peace in Afghanistan.
SKY
It follows a spokesman for the group telling AP it is holding talks aimed at forming an "open, inclusive Islamic government" and the deputy leader of the group releasing a video saying it plans to "give serenity to the whole nation".
Taliban officials have declared the war is over and it is in charge of 90% of government buildings, amid allegations of revenge killings, brutal tactics, and some looting and lawlessness.
Afghanistan live updates: All the latest as the Taliban establish new government
But, amid the statements, chaotic scenes are unfolding at Kabul's international airport with thousands of people trying to get past a cordon to aircraft that are evacuating diplomatic staff.
A spokesperson for the German government said no flights are leaving Kabul airport at the moment because desperate people trying to flee the country are blocking the tarmac - something later confirmed to Reuters by an unnamed US defence official.
Germany's chancellor Angela Merkel had said the country hoped to evacuate 10,000 staff, civilians and Afghans it has worked with, but an official later changed that pledge to as many as possible, with no concrete figure.
Footage has emerged, which Sky News has not been able to verify, of an Apache helicopter being used to clear a runway as a C-17 military transport plane comes in to land.
Five people are reported to have been killed as US troops guarded the evacuation of embassy staff but it was not immediately clear how they died.
Who are the Taliban, what is their history and what do they want for the country?
A US official said soldiers had fired in the air to deter people trying to force their way onto a military flight that was set to take US diplomats and embassy staff out of the fallen city.
An official described the crowd trying to get onto the tarmac at the airport as "out of control" and other images showed people climbing on to an airbridge that allows people to walk onto an aircraft from a terminal and onto the undercarriage housing of a military plane taxiing along the runway.
Other footage distributed by Afghan media and on social media was said to show at least one person falling from the undercarriage of a military plane that had taken off.
British and US forces are on the ground in the military side of the airport and the US said it would focus intensively on securing Kabul airport with additional US forces being flown in to help achieve the aim.
Afghanistan's aviation authorities said the "civilian side" of the airport had been "closed until further notice" and there were reports the US military had taken over air traffic control to ensure safety in the region, with many carriers saying they would be avoiding airspace above the country.
Crowds gather at Kabul Airport amid evacuation
Image:
Crowds gather at Kabul Airport amid evacuation
Sky's Stuart Ramsay, who is near the airport, said the sound of gunfire he has heard is thought to be the military attempting to keep people out of the airport, but says in the rest of Kabul the people are already dressing differently, as the Taliban take over.
He said he understands the airport has been surrounded by razor wire in an attempt to make it secure.
It comes as many of the countries which have been involved in the efforts to rebuild the country amid two decades of war with the Taliban started pulling out their diplomatic staff and continued attempting to evacuate their civilians and Afghans who had helped them.
Among the countries planning to pull out staff was Russia, which launched an invasion in 1979 and fought mujahideen including members of the Taliban during a 10-year war. It came as the Taliban deployed guards to the Russian embassy.
The first group of evacuated Britons and embassy staff arrived at RAF Brize Norton last night, the Ministry of Defence confirmed.
There were reported to be 4,000 Britons in Afghanistan and the UK has said it plans to ramp up efforts to evacuate up to 1,500 people from Afghanistan a day.
A US defence official said his country's aim was to extract tens of thousands of at-risk Afghans who worked for the US
government with a view to temporarily housing them at Fort McCoy in Wisconsin and Fort Bliss in Texas.
The Taliban, who ruled from 1996 to 2001 until a US-led invasion reduced them to conducting a guerrilla war, have routed the US-backed government's forces following a US decision to pull out its troops.
President Ashraf Ghani fled the country on Sunday as the Islamists began to enter Kabul virtually unopposed - despite ongoing but short-lived resistance elsewhere - saying he wanted to avoid bloodshed.
But Russia's embassy in Kabul said the next day that he had fled with four cars and a helicopter full of cash, and had to leave some money behind as it would not all fit in.
There were reports that around 100 Afghan soldiers had also managed to escape by flying to Tajikistan and also that an Afghan air force jet had been shot down in Uzbekistan airspace, with the condition of any pilots unconfirmed.
Taliban says its 'type of rule' will become clear soon after President Ashraf Ghani flees
Taliban spokesperson Suhail Shaheen said in a message on Twitter its fighters were under strict orders not to harm anyone and on Monday it put out videos showing quiet city streets in Kabul as fighters manned major intersections.
A Taliban official said its fighters in Kabul had started collecting weapons from civilians on Monday because people no longer need them for personal protection.
The Russia-led security bloc CTSO, which includes central Asian states such as Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, but excludes Uzbekistan, said it was deeply concerned the Taliban taking control in Afghanistan will have a significant impact on the situation in Central Asia.
Footage released by the Taliban shows them checking cars at road checkpoints going into the city of Kabul, Afghanistan
Russia is said to be talking to the US about the deteriorating situation.
President Joe Biden, whose order pulling out US troops from the country preceded the Taliban surge, was seen at his Camp David retreat on Sunday, alone in a conference room meeting virtually with military, diplomatic and intelligence experts.
US officials are said to be stunned by how quickly the Taliban have overcome Afghan forces, despite the billions spent on military hardware and training to equip them for the fight.
While Mr Biden has yet to speak publicly, US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said the Afghan military was to blame. "We could not give them the will and ultimately they decided that they would not fight for Kabul," he said.
Not all foreigners were pulling out. Doctors Without Borders (MSF) and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said their operations across Afghanistan have continued and the United Nation's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Aid (OCHA) said it and its partners "are staying and delivering to people in need".
China said its embassy remained open in Kabul and it was willing to help reconstruct the country, and while not commenting on whether Beijing would recognize the Taliban as the new government, said it would respect the choice of the Afghan people.
Saudi Arabia expressed similar sentiments, calling on the Taliban and "all Afghan parties" to preserve lives and property and expressing hope that the situation in the central Asian state stabilises as soon as possible.
A meeting of the 15-member UN Security Council was due to take place at 3pm UK time, after a request from Estonia and Norway, both of which were part of the ISAF coalition which battled the Taliban during the last two decades.
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi said on Monday the United States' "military failure" presented an opportunity to establish lasting peace in Afghanistan.
SKY
OldWarHorse
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Wow those scenes....are people really hanging onto an aircraft like its a bloody bus?!!!
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China is ready to deepen "friendly and cooperative" relations with Afghanistan, a government spokeswoman said Monday, after the Taliban seized control of the country.
Beijing has sought to maintain unofficial ties with the Taliban throughout the US' withdrawal from Afghanistan, which spurred an advance by the Islamist hardliners across the country that saw them capture the capital Kabul on Sunday.
China shares a rugged 76-kilometre (47-mile) border with Afghanistan.
Beijing has long feared Afghanistan could become a staging point for minority Uyghur separatists in the sensitive border region of Xinjiang.
But a top-level Taliban delegation met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Tianjin last month, promising that Afghanistan would not be used as a base for militants.
In exchange, China offered economic support and investment for Afghanistan's reconstruction.
On Monday, China said it "welcomed" the chance to deepen ties with Afghanistan, a country that has for generations been coveted for its geo-strategic importance by bigger powers.
"The Taliban have repeatedly expressed their hope to develop good relations with China, and that they look forward to China's participation in the reconstruction and development of Afghanistan," foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told reporters.
"We welcome this. China respects the right of the Afghan people to independently determine their own destiny and is willing to continue to develop... friendly and cooperative relations with Afghanistan."
Hua called on the Taliban to "ensure a smooth transition" of power and keep its promises to negotiate the establishment of an "open and inclusive Islamic government" and ensure the safety of Afghans and foreign citizens.
China's embassy in Kabul remains operational, Hua said, although Beijing began evacuating Chinese citizens from the country months ago amid the deteriorating security situation.
In a statement Monday, the embassy told Chinese citizens remaining in Afghanistan to "pay close attention to the security situation" and stay indoors.
US President Joe Biden promised a complete withdrawal of US troops by September 11, marking an end to two decades of war.
But Washington was left shocked by the rapid collapse of the Afghan government and the Taliban's sweeping advance.
China has repeatedly criticised what it sees as the US' hasty withdrawal from Afghanistan as a failure of leadership.
- Stability and business -
The Taliban's takeover opens a strategic door to China laden with both risk and opportunity.
Maintaining stability after decades of war in its western neighbour will be Beijing's main consideration, as it seeks to secure its borders and strategic infrastructure investments in neighbouring Pakistan, home to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.
For Beijing, a stable and cooperative administration in Kabul would pave the way for an expansion of its Belt and Road Initiative into Afghanistan and through the Central Asian republics, analysts say.
The Taliban meanwhile may consider China a crucial source of investment and economic support, either directly or via Pakistan – a close Beijing ally.
China has so far stopped short of officially recognising the Taliban as the new leaders of Afghanistan, but Wang Yi called them a "decisive military and political force" during last month's meeting in Tianjin.
Beijing has sought to maintain unofficial ties with the Taliban throughout the US' withdrawal from Afghanistan, which spurred an advance by the Islamist hardliners across the country that saw them capture the capital Kabul on Sunday.
China shares a rugged 76-kilometre (47-mile) border with Afghanistan.
Beijing has long feared Afghanistan could become a staging point for minority Uyghur separatists in the sensitive border region of Xinjiang.
But a top-level Taliban delegation met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Tianjin last month, promising that Afghanistan would not be used as a base for militants.
In exchange, China offered economic support and investment for Afghanistan's reconstruction.
On Monday, China said it "welcomed" the chance to deepen ties with Afghanistan, a country that has for generations been coveted for its geo-strategic importance by bigger powers.
"The Taliban have repeatedly expressed their hope to develop good relations with China, and that they look forward to China's participation in the reconstruction and development of Afghanistan," foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told reporters.
"We welcome this. China respects the right of the Afghan people to independently determine their own destiny and is willing to continue to develop... friendly and cooperative relations with Afghanistan."
Hua called on the Taliban to "ensure a smooth transition" of power and keep its promises to negotiate the establishment of an "open and inclusive Islamic government" and ensure the safety of Afghans and foreign citizens.
China's embassy in Kabul remains operational, Hua said, although Beijing began evacuating Chinese citizens from the country months ago amid the deteriorating security situation.
In a statement Monday, the embassy told Chinese citizens remaining in Afghanistan to "pay close attention to the security situation" and stay indoors.
US President Joe Biden promised a complete withdrawal of US troops by September 11, marking an end to two decades of war.
But Washington was left shocked by the rapid collapse of the Afghan government and the Taliban's sweeping advance.
China has repeatedly criticised what it sees as the US' hasty withdrawal from Afghanistan as a failure of leadership.
- Stability and business -
The Taliban's takeover opens a strategic door to China laden with both risk and opportunity.
Maintaining stability after decades of war in its western neighbour will be Beijing's main consideration, as it seeks to secure its borders and strategic infrastructure investments in neighbouring Pakistan, home to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.
For Beijing, a stable and cooperative administration in Kabul would pave the way for an expansion of its Belt and Road Initiative into Afghanistan and through the Central Asian republics, analysts say.
The Taliban meanwhile may consider China a crucial source of investment and economic support, either directly or via Pakistan – a close Beijing ally.
China has so far stopped short of officially recognising the Taliban as the new leaders of Afghanistan, but Wang Yi called them a "decisive military and political force" during last month's meeting in Tianjin.
JaDed
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Unreal about how easy all this seemed for Taliban , looking at them and their fitness etc remarkable honestly how easily they have overthrown the Afghan army.
Pakpak
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You should then check the Afghan Embassy in India account, it absolutely verifies what the above woman is saying and is actually full of worse allegations. Some gems below:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">More tweets from Afghan embassy in India attacking Ghani & his circle. <a href="https://t.co/r725vbPTJA">https://t.co/r725vbPTJA</a> <a href="https://t.co/rfrPUANBSy">pic.twitter.com/rfrPUANBSy</a></p>— FJ (@Natsecjeff) <a href="https://twitter.com/Natsecjeff/status/1427060693262606340?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 16, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
ahmedzee
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That is absolutely sad. The only death in Kabul occurred at the airport where US still has control. The American preferred to take their dogs (literally dogs/animals, and I am not referring it as an insult to anyone), instead of those Afghans who worked for them in their embassy.
Maybe someone started rumours that people can leave afghanistan for US so lets all go to the airport (just a theory).
Horrific to see those people thinking they could travel by clinging onto the plane like that. US army was there, they could've avoided this, instead of shooting at people and just going ahead with their flight knowing people are hanging on to the plane. This is what their loyal servants deserve after 20 years of service?
Very sad and unfortunate!
Kroll
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In this day and age of tiktok and whatnot, its hard to imagine an entire country suddenly being taken over by religious militants.
I know we have extremists running India but these guys are all armed.
I know we have extremists running India but these guys are all armed.
Major
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Last time around taliban had placed a 50% tax on companies, and their economy relied on opiom that was being sold to Pakistan.
They did not even have a minister of finance, no economist or banker, and no budget. It was basically mullah omar who gave out money without book keeping.
Wonder what they will do this time.
Its a govt that is doomed to fail
They did not even have a minister of finance, no economist or banker, and no budget. It was basically mullah omar who gave out money without book keeping.
Wonder what they will do this time.
Its a govt that is doomed to fail
Gharib Aadmi
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Last time they were under sanctions. And besides from Pakistan & Saudi Arabia no one recognized their government. This time they are trying to get legitimacy, especially with Russia and China.
Major
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sanction or no sanction, they did not have a proper banker or economist as their misnister of finance. That has nothing to do with sanctions more to do with the Taliban Jahalat.
50% tax was decided by Mullah Omar himself
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KABUL: The Taliban on Tuesday declared a general amnesty for all government officials and urged them to return to work, two days after taking power following a lightning sweep through the country.
"A general amnesty has been declared for all... so you should start your routine life with full confidence," said a statement from the Taliban.
President Joe Biden earlier defended the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan after the Taliban's stunning military takeover that triggered panic in Kabul with thousands mobbing the airport in a desperate attempt to flee.
In his first public appearance since the group seized control of the country at the weekend, he admitted the Taliban advance had unfolded more quickly than expected.
Heaping criticism at the Western-backed government that was ousted with shockingly little resistance, he said US troops could not defend a nation whose leaders "gave up and fled", as did President Ashraf Ghani.
"We gave them every chance to determine their own future. We could not provide them with the will to fight for that future," Biden said in his address at the White House.
"American troops cannot and should not be fighting in a war and dying in a war that Afghan forces are not willing to fight for themselves."
The Taliban captured Kabul, and most other main cities, with little bloodshed.
But in the capital, panic gripped many residents who feared a repeat of the Taliban's rule from 1996 to 2001.
Read: Five killed at Kabul airport as Afghans make a desperate dash to exit
At the airport, thousands of Afghans scrambled to board the few flights available.
"We are afraid to live in this city," a 25-year-old ex-soldier told AFP as he stood among huge crowds on the tarmac. "Since I served in the army, the Taliban would definitely target me."
The United States has sent 6,000 troops to ensure the safe evacuation of embassy staff, as well as Afghans who worked as interpreters or in other support roles.
Other governments including France, Germany and Australia also organised charter flights.
On Monday, dramatic footage posted on social media showed hundreds of men running alongside a US Air Force plane as it rolled down the runway, with some clinging to the side of it.
In other videos, civilians frantically clambered up an already overcrowded and buckling jetway.
One picture carried by US media showed a jam-packed US military transport plane purportedly with about 640 Afghans on board -- some of whom climbed onto the half-open ramp at the last minute and were allowed aboard.
Taliban fighters have taken over checkpoints across Kabul, and militants with rifles slung over their shoulders walked through the streets of the Green Zone, the heavily fortified district that houses most embassies and international organisations.
Ghani's departure on Sunday finalised the collapse of his government. His whereabouts are currently unknown.
The Taliban sought to reassure the international community that Afghans should not fear them, with co-founder Abdul Ghani Baradar saying the militants needed to show that they could "serve our nation and ensure security".
The State Department said any US ties with a Taliban government would depend on their respect of human rights and rejection of extremism.
Biden issued a stern warning to the Taliban, saying any threats to US interests would be met with a "devastating" military response.
China, meanwhile, was the first major nation to flag support for the Taliban, stating it was ready for "friendly relations".
Both Russia and Iran also made diplomatic overtures.
Critics say the US reputation as a global power has been badly tarnished by the Taliban's victory, nearly 20 years after they were ousted from power by a US-led invasion over their support for Al-Qaeda.
But Washington has insisted that its two decades of war in Afghanistan was a success, defined by quashing the Al-Qaeda threat.
The UN Security Council said Monday the international community must ensure Afghanistan does not become a breeding ground for terrorism.
"The world is watching," UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said. "We cannot and must not abandon the people of Afghanistan."
https://tribune.com.pk/story/2316018/taliban-announce-general-amnesty-for-govt-officials-statement
"A general amnesty has been declared for all... so you should start your routine life with full confidence," said a statement from the Taliban.
President Joe Biden earlier defended the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan after the Taliban's stunning military takeover that triggered panic in Kabul with thousands mobbing the airport in a desperate attempt to flee.
In his first public appearance since the group seized control of the country at the weekend, he admitted the Taliban advance had unfolded more quickly than expected.
Heaping criticism at the Western-backed government that was ousted with shockingly little resistance, he said US troops could not defend a nation whose leaders "gave up and fled", as did President Ashraf Ghani.
"We gave them every chance to determine their own future. We could not provide them with the will to fight for that future," Biden said in his address at the White House.
"American troops cannot and should not be fighting in a war and dying in a war that Afghan forces are not willing to fight for themselves."
The Taliban captured Kabul, and most other main cities, with little bloodshed.
But in the capital, panic gripped many residents who feared a repeat of the Taliban's rule from 1996 to 2001.
Read: Five killed at Kabul airport as Afghans make a desperate dash to exit
At the airport, thousands of Afghans scrambled to board the few flights available.
"We are afraid to live in this city," a 25-year-old ex-soldier told AFP as he stood among huge crowds on the tarmac. "Since I served in the army, the Taliban would definitely target me."
The United States has sent 6,000 troops to ensure the safe evacuation of embassy staff, as well as Afghans who worked as interpreters or in other support roles.
Other governments including France, Germany and Australia also organised charter flights.
On Monday, dramatic footage posted on social media showed hundreds of men running alongside a US Air Force plane as it rolled down the runway, with some clinging to the side of it.
In other videos, civilians frantically clambered up an already overcrowded and buckling jetway.
One picture carried by US media showed a jam-packed US military transport plane purportedly with about 640 Afghans on board -- some of whom climbed onto the half-open ramp at the last minute and were allowed aboard.
Taliban fighters have taken over checkpoints across Kabul, and militants with rifles slung over their shoulders walked through the streets of the Green Zone, the heavily fortified district that houses most embassies and international organisations.
Ghani's departure on Sunday finalised the collapse of his government. His whereabouts are currently unknown.
The Taliban sought to reassure the international community that Afghans should not fear them, with co-founder Abdul Ghani Baradar saying the militants needed to show that they could "serve our nation and ensure security".
The State Department said any US ties with a Taliban government would depend on their respect of human rights and rejection of extremism.
Biden issued a stern warning to the Taliban, saying any threats to US interests would be met with a "devastating" military response.
China, meanwhile, was the first major nation to flag support for the Taliban, stating it was ready for "friendly relations".
Both Russia and Iran also made diplomatic overtures.
Critics say the US reputation as a global power has been badly tarnished by the Taliban's victory, nearly 20 years after they were ousted from power by a US-led invasion over their support for Al-Qaeda.
But Washington has insisted that its two decades of war in Afghanistan was a success, defined by quashing the Al-Qaeda threat.
The UN Security Council said Monday the international community must ensure Afghanistan does not become a breeding ground for terrorism.
"The world is watching," UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said. "We cannot and must not abandon the people of Afghanistan."
https://tribune.com.pk/story/2316018/taliban-announce-general-amnesty-for-govt-officials-statement
OMB
First Class Captain
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- Dec 27, 2010
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How Billions Spent On Afghan Army In Two Decades Ultimately Benefitted Taliban
Of the approximately $145 billion the U.S. government spent trying to rebuild Afghanistan, about $83 billion went to developing and sustaining its army and police forces, according to the Office of the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction.
Built and trained at a two-decade cost of $83 billion, Afghan security forces collapsed so quickly and completely — in some cases without a shot fired — that the ultimate beneficiary of the American investment turned out to be the Taliban. They grabbed not only political power but also U.S.-supplied firepower — guns, ammunition, helicopters, and more.
The Taliban captured an array of modern military equipment when they overran Afghan forces who failed to defend district centers. Bigger gains followed, including combat aircraft, when the Taliban rolled up provincial capitals and military bases with stunning speed, topped by capturing the biggest prize, Kabul, over the weekend.
A U.S. defense official on Monday confirmed the Taliban’s sudden accumulation of U.S.-supplied Afghan equipment is enormous. The official was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and so spoke on condition of anonymity. The reversal is an embarrassing consequence of misjudging the viability of Afghan government forces — by the U.S. military as well as intelligence agencies — which in some cases chose to surrender their vehicles and weapons rather than fight.
The U.S. failure to produce a sustainable Afghan army and police force, and the reasons for their collapse, will be studied for years by military analysts. The basic dimensions, however, are clear and are not unlike what happened in Iraq. The forces turned out to be hollow, equipped with superior arms but largely missing the crucial ingredient of combat motivation.
“Money can’t buy will. You cannot purchase leadership,” John Kirby, chief spokesman for Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, said Monday.
Doug Lute, a retired Army lieutenant general who help direct Afghan war strategy during the George W. Bush and Barack Obama administrations, said that what the Afghans received intangible resources they lacked in the more important intangibles.
“The principle of war stands — moral factors dominate material factors,” he said. “Morale, discipline, leadership, unit cohesion are more decisive than numbers of forces and equipment. As outsiders in Afghanistan, we can provide material, but only Afghans can provide the intangible moral factors.”
By contrast, Afghanistan’s Taliban insurgents, with smaller numbers, less sophisticated weaponry, and no airpower, proved a superior force. U.S. intelligence agencies largely underestimated the scope of that superiority, and even after President Joe Biden announced in April he was withdrawing all U.S. troops, the intelligence agencies did not foresee a Taliban final offensive that would succeed so spectacularly.
“If we wouldn’t have used hope as a course of action, ... we would have realized the rapid drawdown of U.S. forces sent a signal to the Afghan national forces that they were being abandoned,” said Chris Miller, who saw combat in Afghanistan in 2001 and was acting secretary of defense at the end of President Donald Trump’s term.
Stephen Biddle, a professor of international and public affairs at Columbia University and a former adviser to U.S. commanders in Afghanistan, said Biden’s announcement set the final collapse in motion.
“The problem of the U.S. withdrawal is that it sent a nationwide signal that the jig is up — a sudden, nationwide signal that everyone read the same way,” Biddle said. Before April, the Afghan government troops were slowly but steadily losing the war, he said. When they learned that their American partners were going home, an impulse to give up without a fight “spread like wildfire.”
The failures, however, go back much further and run much deeper. The United States tried to develop a credible Afghan defense establishment on the fly, even as it was fighting the Taliban, attempting to widen the political foundations of the government in Kabul and seeking to establish democracy in a country rife with corruption and cronyism.
Year after year, U.S. military leaders downplayed the problems and insisted success was coming. Others saw the handwriting on the wall. In 2015 a professor at the Army War College’s Strategic Studies Institute wrote about the military’s failure to learn lessons from past wars; he subtitled his book, “Why the Afghan National Security Forces Will Not Hold.”
“Regarding the future of Afghanistan, in blunt terms, the United States has been down this road at the strategic level twice before, in Vietnam and Iraq, and there is no viable rationale for why the results will be any different in Afghanistan,” Chris Mason wrote. He added, presciently: “Slow decay is inevitable, and state failure is a matter of time.”
Some elements of the Afghan army did fight hard, including commandos whose heroic efforts are yet to be fully documented. But as a whole, the security forces created by the United States and its NATO allies amounted to a “house of cards” whose collapse was driven as much by failures of U.S. civilian leaders as their military partners, according to Anthony Cordesman, a longtime Afghanistan war analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
The Afghan force-building exercise was so completely dependent on American largesse that the Pentagon even paid the Afghan troops’ salaries. Too often that money, and untold amounts of fuel, were siphoned off by corrupt officers and government overseers who cooked the books, creating “ghost soldiers” to keep the misspent dollars coming.
Of the approximately $145 billion the U.S. government spent trying to rebuild Afghanistan, about $83 billion went to developing and sustaining its army and police forces, according to the Office of the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, a congressionally created watchdog that has tracked the war since 2008. The $145 billion is in addition to $837 billion the United States spent fighting the war, which began with an invasion in October 2001.
The $83 billion invested in Afghan forces over 20 years is nearly double last year’s budget for the entire U.S. Marine Corps and is slightly more than what Washington budgeted last year for food stamp assistance for about 40 million Americans.
In his book, “The Afghanistan Papers,” journalist Craig Whitlock wrote that U.S. trainers tried to force Western ways on Afghan recruits and gave scant thought to whether U.S. taxpayer's dollars were investing in a truly viable army.
“Given that the U.S. war strategy depended on the Afghan army’s performance, however, the Pentagon paid surprisingly little attention to the question of whether Afghans were willing to die for their government,” he wrote.
https://www.outlookindia.com/website/story/world-news-billions-spent-on-afghanistan-ultimately-benefited-taliban/391739
Of the approximately $145 billion the U.S. government spent trying to rebuild Afghanistan, about $83 billion went to developing and sustaining its army and police forces, according to the Office of the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction.
Built and trained at a two-decade cost of $83 billion, Afghan security forces collapsed so quickly and completely — in some cases without a shot fired — that the ultimate beneficiary of the American investment turned out to be the Taliban. They grabbed not only political power but also U.S.-supplied firepower — guns, ammunition, helicopters, and more.
The Taliban captured an array of modern military equipment when they overran Afghan forces who failed to defend district centers. Bigger gains followed, including combat aircraft, when the Taliban rolled up provincial capitals and military bases with stunning speed, topped by capturing the biggest prize, Kabul, over the weekend.
A U.S. defense official on Monday confirmed the Taliban’s sudden accumulation of U.S.-supplied Afghan equipment is enormous. The official was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and so spoke on condition of anonymity. The reversal is an embarrassing consequence of misjudging the viability of Afghan government forces — by the U.S. military as well as intelligence agencies — which in some cases chose to surrender their vehicles and weapons rather than fight.
The U.S. failure to produce a sustainable Afghan army and police force, and the reasons for their collapse, will be studied for years by military analysts. The basic dimensions, however, are clear and are not unlike what happened in Iraq. The forces turned out to be hollow, equipped with superior arms but largely missing the crucial ingredient of combat motivation.
“Money can’t buy will. You cannot purchase leadership,” John Kirby, chief spokesman for Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, said Monday.
Doug Lute, a retired Army lieutenant general who help direct Afghan war strategy during the George W. Bush and Barack Obama administrations, said that what the Afghans received intangible resources they lacked in the more important intangibles.
“The principle of war stands — moral factors dominate material factors,” he said. “Morale, discipline, leadership, unit cohesion are more decisive than numbers of forces and equipment. As outsiders in Afghanistan, we can provide material, but only Afghans can provide the intangible moral factors.”
By contrast, Afghanistan’s Taliban insurgents, with smaller numbers, less sophisticated weaponry, and no airpower, proved a superior force. U.S. intelligence agencies largely underestimated the scope of that superiority, and even after President Joe Biden announced in April he was withdrawing all U.S. troops, the intelligence agencies did not foresee a Taliban final offensive that would succeed so spectacularly.
“If we wouldn’t have used hope as a course of action, ... we would have realized the rapid drawdown of U.S. forces sent a signal to the Afghan national forces that they were being abandoned,” said Chris Miller, who saw combat in Afghanistan in 2001 and was acting secretary of defense at the end of President Donald Trump’s term.
Stephen Biddle, a professor of international and public affairs at Columbia University and a former adviser to U.S. commanders in Afghanistan, said Biden’s announcement set the final collapse in motion.
“The problem of the U.S. withdrawal is that it sent a nationwide signal that the jig is up — a sudden, nationwide signal that everyone read the same way,” Biddle said. Before April, the Afghan government troops were slowly but steadily losing the war, he said. When they learned that their American partners were going home, an impulse to give up without a fight “spread like wildfire.”
The failures, however, go back much further and run much deeper. The United States tried to develop a credible Afghan defense establishment on the fly, even as it was fighting the Taliban, attempting to widen the political foundations of the government in Kabul and seeking to establish democracy in a country rife with corruption and cronyism.
Year after year, U.S. military leaders downplayed the problems and insisted success was coming. Others saw the handwriting on the wall. In 2015 a professor at the Army War College’s Strategic Studies Institute wrote about the military’s failure to learn lessons from past wars; he subtitled his book, “Why the Afghan National Security Forces Will Not Hold.”
“Regarding the future of Afghanistan, in blunt terms, the United States has been down this road at the strategic level twice before, in Vietnam and Iraq, and there is no viable rationale for why the results will be any different in Afghanistan,” Chris Mason wrote. He added, presciently: “Slow decay is inevitable, and state failure is a matter of time.”
Some elements of the Afghan army did fight hard, including commandos whose heroic efforts are yet to be fully documented. But as a whole, the security forces created by the United States and its NATO allies amounted to a “house of cards” whose collapse was driven as much by failures of U.S. civilian leaders as their military partners, according to Anthony Cordesman, a longtime Afghanistan war analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
The Afghan force-building exercise was so completely dependent on American largesse that the Pentagon even paid the Afghan troops’ salaries. Too often that money, and untold amounts of fuel, were siphoned off by corrupt officers and government overseers who cooked the books, creating “ghost soldiers” to keep the misspent dollars coming.
Of the approximately $145 billion the U.S. government spent trying to rebuild Afghanistan, about $83 billion went to developing and sustaining its army and police forces, according to the Office of the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, a congressionally created watchdog that has tracked the war since 2008. The $145 billion is in addition to $837 billion the United States spent fighting the war, which began with an invasion in October 2001.
The $83 billion invested in Afghan forces over 20 years is nearly double last year’s budget for the entire U.S. Marine Corps and is slightly more than what Washington budgeted last year for food stamp assistance for about 40 million Americans.
In his book, “The Afghanistan Papers,” journalist Craig Whitlock wrote that U.S. trainers tried to force Western ways on Afghan recruits and gave scant thought to whether U.S. taxpayer's dollars were investing in a truly viable army.
“Given that the U.S. war strategy depended on the Afghan army’s performance, however, the Pentagon paid surprisingly little attention to the question of whether Afghans were willing to die for their government,” he wrote.
https://www.outlookindia.com/website/story/world-news-billions-spent-on-afghanistan-ultimately-benefited-taliban/391739
UzmanBeast
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Exactly.
People need to understand that Afghanistan has a lot of potential. You have literally an entire block of countries with similar interests towards Afghanistan, and also against the US.
Russia, China, Pakistan, Iran, Uzbekistan, Turkey, and the other -stan nations as well. There is a lot of economic growth and welfare to be had if Afghanistan becomes a peaceful place.
Moreover, this economic activity will revive the Afghan economy which has pretty much crumbled to dust.
Runner Up
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I am happy that there was no civil war like situation in Afghanistan. This means no refugees crisis like past and hopefully no trouble in future.
JaDed
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But with such ease these unfit Talibani warriors took over one must think US tax payers money went so down the drain training Afghan Army it is hilarious, for all this Americans could had settled on Mars.
Ahmad-GERMANFC
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Afghan army has to have been in cahoots with taliban
Also I think taliban enjoy popular support among afghans especially those outside Kabul
Colorblind Genius
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Interesting report by the Indian media.
They key term is at 1:56
They key term is at 1:56
Savak
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The ultimate decisive factor in winning any war is the will. The people of Stalingrad prevailed our Nazi Germany because of the will to win. A 300,000 well equipped army and 75,000 air force will not do much if they don't want to fight and kill their own people unnecessarily. If there is an attack on Afghanistan under the Taliban leadership then you can bet the 300,000 soldiers and 75,000 air force personnel will get into action immediately let alone the people on the streets.
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Afghanistan's defiant vice president made one thing clear as the Taliban seized control of the capital following the collapse of his government -- he will not surrender.
It appears he has retreated to the country's last remaining holdout: the Panjshir Valley northeast of Kabul.
"I won't disappoint millions who listened to me. I will never be under one ceiling with Taliban. NEVER," he wrote in English on Twitter on Sunday, before going underground.
A day later, pictures began to surface on social media of the former vice president with the son of his former mentor and famed anti-Taliban fighter Ahmed Shah Massoud in Panjshir -- a mountainous redoubt tucked into the Hindu Kush.
Saleh and Massoud's son, who commands a militia force, appear to be putting together the first pieces of a guerilla movement to take on the victorious Taliban, as fighters regroup in Panjshir.
'Resist with all our might'
Famed for its natural defences, the valley never fell to the Taliban during the civil war of the 1990s, nor was it ever conquered by the Soviets a decade earlier.
"We will not allow the Taliban to enter Panjshir and will resist with all our might and power, and fight them," one resident told AFP on condition of anonymity.
Orphaned at a young age, Saleh first fought alongside guerilla commander Massoud in the 1990s. He went on to serve in his government before being chased out of Kabul when the Taliban captured it in 1996.
'We will continue our fight'
After the September 11, 2001 attacks, Saleh -- then a part of the anti-Taliban resistance -- became a key asset for the CIA.
The relationship paved the way for him to lead the newly formed Afghanistan intelligence agency, the National Security Directorate (NDS), in 2004.
As NDS chief Saleh is believed to have amassed a network of informants and spies inside the insurgency. Saleh's rise, however, has not been without its share of dramatic stumbles.
In 2010, he was sacked as Afghanistan's spy chief following a humiliating attack on a Kabul peace conference.
A return to favour came in 2018 when he briefly oversaw the interior ministry after sealing an alliance with Ghani, who has now fled to an unknown location.
Saleh went on to become the former leader's vice premier.
His most recent political revival came as the US was preparing to exit Afghanistan and coincided with a series of alleged assassination attempts on Saleh by the Taliban.
His latest close call came last September when a massive bomb targeting his convoy killed at least 10 people in Kabul.
Within hours of the attack, Saleh appeared in a video with his left hand bandaged, promising to fight back.
"We will continue our fight," he said.
https://tribune.com.pk/story/2316047/defiant-saleh-vows-new-fight-with-taliban
It appears he has retreated to the country's last remaining holdout: the Panjshir Valley northeast of Kabul.
"I won't disappoint millions who listened to me. I will never be under one ceiling with Taliban. NEVER," he wrote in English on Twitter on Sunday, before going underground.
A day later, pictures began to surface on social media of the former vice president with the son of his former mentor and famed anti-Taliban fighter Ahmed Shah Massoud in Panjshir -- a mountainous redoubt tucked into the Hindu Kush.
Saleh and Massoud's son, who commands a militia force, appear to be putting together the first pieces of a guerilla movement to take on the victorious Taliban, as fighters regroup in Panjshir.
'Resist with all our might'
Famed for its natural defences, the valley never fell to the Taliban during the civil war of the 1990s, nor was it ever conquered by the Soviets a decade earlier.
"We will not allow the Taliban to enter Panjshir and will resist with all our might and power, and fight them," one resident told AFP on condition of anonymity.
Orphaned at a young age, Saleh first fought alongside guerilla commander Massoud in the 1990s. He went on to serve in his government before being chased out of Kabul when the Taliban captured it in 1996.
'We will continue our fight'
After the September 11, 2001 attacks, Saleh -- then a part of the anti-Taliban resistance -- became a key asset for the CIA.
The relationship paved the way for him to lead the newly formed Afghanistan intelligence agency, the National Security Directorate (NDS), in 2004.
As NDS chief Saleh is believed to have amassed a network of informants and spies inside the insurgency. Saleh's rise, however, has not been without its share of dramatic stumbles.
In 2010, he was sacked as Afghanistan's spy chief following a humiliating attack on a Kabul peace conference.
A return to favour came in 2018 when he briefly oversaw the interior ministry after sealing an alliance with Ghani, who has now fled to an unknown location.
Saleh went on to become the former leader's vice premier.
His most recent political revival came as the US was preparing to exit Afghanistan and coincided with a series of alleged assassination attempts on Saleh by the Taliban.
His latest close call came last September when a massive bomb targeting his convoy killed at least 10 people in Kabul.
Within hours of the attack, Saleh appeared in a video with his left hand bandaged, promising to fight back.
"We will continue our fight," he said.
https://tribune.com.pk/story/2316047/defiant-saleh-vows-new-fight-with-taliban
street cricketer
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I'm not really bothered about Ghani or whichever Afghan politician.
My personal opinion is that, it doesn't matter who the Afghan President is, but Afghanistan will be able to develop better as a society under a democratic system than an armed militia like the Taliban. Nawaz might be the most corrupt politician in Pakistan, but even Nawaz or Zardari would still be better for Pakistani people than the TTP taking over Pakistan through force.
OMB
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Ghani has gone, USA has gone and the Taliban have their president.
So now they have a task to run a country which was corrupt and inefficient already.
Big question - what are their credentials in running a government?
I mean they are not exactly known for having a balanced viewpoint which comes out of political difference of opinion, political debate and expression of dissent.
So now they have a task to run a country which was corrupt and inefficient already.
Big question - what are their credentials in running a government?
I mean they are not exactly known for having a balanced viewpoint which comes out of political difference of opinion, political debate and expression of dissent.
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