{"id":629237,"date":"2021-08-10T10:51:28","date_gmt":"2021-08-10T14:51:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=629237"},"modified":"2021-08-10T10:51:30","modified_gmt":"2021-08-10T14:51:30","slug":"biden-turns-back-on-afghanistan-as-taliban-tightens-control","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/biden-turns-back-on-afghanistan-as-taliban-tightens-control\/","title":{"rendered":"Biden Turns Back on Afghanistan as Taliban Tightens Control"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">18<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fbiden-turns-back-on-afghanistan-as-taliban-tightens-control%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=629237&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/GettyImages-1234373662_736x514.jpg\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" \/><\/div>\n<p>KABUL (R<span class=\"highlight\" data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">eu<\/span>ters)\u2014<span class=\"highlight\" data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">Taliban&nbsp;<\/span>insurgents tightened their grip on captured Afghan territory on Tuesday as civilians hid in their homes, with an<span class=\"highlight\" data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">&nbsp;EU&nbsp;<\/span><span class=\"highlight\" data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">official&nbsp;<\/span>saying the militants now<span class=\"highlight\" data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">&nbsp;control<\/span>led<span class=\"highlight\" data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">&nbsp;65%&nbsp;<\/span>of the country<span class=\"highlight\" data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">&nbsp;after&nbsp;<\/span>a string of<span class=\"highlight\" data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">&nbsp;sudden&nbsp;<\/span><span class=\"highlight\" data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">gains&nbsp;<\/span>as foreign forces pull out.<\/p>\n<p>President Ashraf Ghani called on regional strongmen to support his government, while a U.N.<span class=\"highlight\" data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">&nbsp;official&nbsp;<\/span>said advances made in human rights in the 20 years since the hardline Islamists were ousted from power were in danger of being erased.<\/p>\n<p>In the capital Kabul, Ghani&#8217;s aides said he was seeking help from regional militias he has squabbled with over the years to rally to the defense of his government. He had also appealed to civilians to defend<span class=\"highlight\" data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">&nbsp;Afghanistan<\/span>\u2018s &#8220;democratic fabric&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>In the town of Aibak, capital of Samangan province on the main road between the northern town of Mazar-i-Sharif and Kabul,<span class=\"highlight\" data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">&nbsp;Taliban&nbsp;<\/span>fighters were consolidating their<span class=\"highlight\" data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">&nbsp;control<\/span>, moving into government buildings, residents said.<\/p>\n<p>Most government security forces appeared to have withdrawn.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The only way is self-imposed house arrest or to find a way to leave for Kabul,&#8221; said Sher Mohamed Abbas, a provincial tax officer, when asked about living conditions in Aibak.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;But then even Kabul is not a safe option anymore,&#8221; said Abbas, the sole bread winner for a family of nine.<\/p>\n<p>Abbas said the<span class=\"highlight\" data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">&nbsp;Taliban&nbsp;<\/span>had arrived at his office and told workers to go home. He and other residents said they had neither seen nor heard fighting on Tuesday.<\/p>\n<p>For years, the north was the most peaceful part of the country with an only minimal<span class=\"highlight\" data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">&nbsp;Taliban&nbsp;<\/span>presence.<\/p>\n<p>The militants&#8217; strategy appears to be to take the north, as well as the main border crossings in the north, west and south, and then close in on Kabul.<\/p>\n<p>The<span class=\"highlight\" data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">&nbsp;Taliban<\/span>, battling to defeat the U.S-backed government and reimpose strict Islamic law, swept into Aibak on Monday meeting little resistance.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"highlight\" data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">Taliban&nbsp;<\/span>forces now<span class=\"highlight\" data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">&nbsp;control&nbsp;<\/span><span class=\"highlight\" data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">65%&nbsp;<\/span>of Afghan territory, are threatening to take 11 provincial capitals and are trying to deprive Kabul of its traditional support from national forces in the north, a senior<span class=\"highlight\" data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">&nbsp;EU&nbsp;<\/span><span class=\"highlight\" data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">official&nbsp;<\/span>said on Tuesday.<\/p>\n<p>The government has withdrawn forces from hard-to-defend rural districts to focus on holding major population centers, while<span class=\"highlight\" data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">&nbsp;official<\/span>s have appealed for pressure on neighboring Pakistan to stop<span class=\"highlight\" data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">&nbsp;Taliban&nbsp;<\/span>reinforcements and supplies flowing over the porous border. Pakistan denies backing the<span class=\"highlight\" data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">&nbsp;Taliban<\/span>.<\/p>\n<p>The United States has been carrying out air strikes in support of government troops but said it was up to Afghan forces to defend their country. &#8220;It&#8217;s their struggle,&#8221; John Kirby, a Pentagon spokesperson, told reporters on Monday.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018DEEPLY DISTURBING REPORTS&#8217;<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"highlight\" data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">Taliban&nbsp;<\/span>and government<span class=\"highlight\" data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">&nbsp;official<\/span>s have confirmed that the Islamists have overrun six provincial capitals in recent days in the north, west and south.<\/p>\n<p>Security forces in Pul-e-Khumri, capital of Baghlan province, to the southeast of Aibak, were surrounded as the<span class=\"highlight\" data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">&nbsp;Taliban&nbsp;<\/span>closed in on the town at a main junction on the road to Kabul, a security<span class=\"highlight\" data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">&nbsp;official&nbsp;<\/span>said.<\/p>\n<p>Gulam Bahauddin Jailani, head of the national disaster authority, told R<span class=\"highlight\" data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">eu<\/span>ters there was fighting in 25 of the 34 provinces and 60,000 families had been displaced over the past two months, with most seeking refuge in Kabul.<\/p>\n<p>About 400,000 Afghans have been displaced in recent months and there has been an increase in numbers of people fleeing to Iran over the past 10 days, the<span class=\"highlight\" data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">&nbsp;EU&nbsp;<\/span><span class=\"highlight\" data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">official&nbsp;<\/span>said.<\/p>\n<p>A resident of Farah, the capital and largest city of Farah province in the west near the border with Iran, said the<span class=\"highlight\" data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">&nbsp;Taliban&nbsp;<\/span>had taken<span class=\"highlight\" data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">&nbsp;control&nbsp;<\/span>of the governor&#8217;s compound and there was heavy fighting between the<span class=\"highlight\" data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">&nbsp;Taliban&nbsp;<\/span>and government forces.<\/p>\n<p>Civilians said the<span class=\"highlight\" data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">&nbsp;Taliban&nbsp;<\/span>had captured all key government buildings in the city.<\/p>\n<p>U.N. human rights chief Michelle Bachelet said reports of violations that could amount to war crimes and crimes a<span class=\"highlight\" data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">gains<\/span>t humanity were emerging, including &#8220;deeply disturbing reports&#8221; of the summary execution of surrendering government troops.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;People rightly fear that a seizure of power by the<span class=\"highlight\" data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">&nbsp;Taliban&nbsp;<\/span>will erase the human rights<span class=\"highlight\" data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">&nbsp;gains&nbsp;<\/span>of the past two decades,&#8221; she said.<\/p>\n<p>The<span class=\"highlight\" data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">&nbsp;Taliban<\/span>, ousted in the weeks<span class=\"highlight\" data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">&nbsp;after&nbsp;<\/span>the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the United States, appeared to be in a position to advance from different directions on Mazar-i-Sharif. Its fall would deal a devastating blow to Ghani&#8217;s government.<\/p>\n<p>Atta Mohammad Noor, a northern militia commander, vowed to fight to the end, saying there would be &#8220;resistance until the last drop of my blood&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I prefer dying in dignity than dying in despair,&#8221; he said on Twitter.<\/p>\n<p>India sent a flight to northern<span class=\"highlight\" data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">&nbsp;Afghanistan&nbsp;<\/span>to take its citizens home,<span class=\"highlight\" data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">&nbsp;official<\/span>s said, asking Indians to leave. The United States and Britain have already advised their citizens to leave<span class=\"highlight\" data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">&nbsp;Afghanistan<\/span>.<\/p>\n<p>The United States will complete the withdrawal of its forces at the end of this month under a deal with the<span class=\"highlight\" data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">&nbsp;Taliban<\/span>, which included the withdrawal of foreign forces in exchange for<span class=\"highlight\" data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">&nbsp;Taliban&nbsp;<\/span>promises to prevent<span class=\"highlight\" data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">&nbsp;Afghanistan&nbsp;<\/span>being used for international terrorism.<\/p>\n<p>The<span class=\"highlight\" data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">&nbsp;Taliban&nbsp;<\/span>promised not to attack foreign forces as they withdraw but did not agree to a ceasefire with the government.<\/p>\n<p>(Reporting by Afganistan bureau, additional reporting by Emma Farge in Geneva and Sabine Siebold and John Chalmers in Brussels; Editing by Nick Macfie and Mark Heinrich)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>KABUL (Reuters)\u2014Taliban\u00a0insurgents tightened their grip on captured Afghan territory on Tuesday as civilians hid in their homes, with an\u00a0EU\u00a0official\u00a0saying the militants now\u00a0controlled\u00a065%\u00a0of the country\u00a0after\u00a0a string of\u00a0sudden\u00a0gains\u00a0as foreign forces pull out. &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-629237","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/629237","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=629237"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/629237\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=629237"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=629237"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=629237"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}