Taliban Ready To Take Over Afghanistan, US And UK Send Thousands Of Troops To Kabul

Civilians crowd at the site of an explosion in Afghanistan. (Wikimedia Commons/Mirahmad Kouhnavard)

JAKARTA - The United States and British authorities decided to send thousands of troops to Kabul, Afghanistan, in line with the rapid progress made by the Taliban military in the past few days.

US intelligence reports that the Taliban could besiege Kabul within 30 days and seize it within 90 days, made the two developed countries move quickly, to deal with the situation, especially evacuating their citizens.

The Pentagon said it would temporarily send about 3,000 additional troops within 48 hours to help evacuate embassy staff. Meanwhile, Britain said it would deploy around 600 troops to help its citizens and local translators out.

The decision comes after the Taliban continued to gain victory in the last two weeks of fighting, in which eight provincial capitals were captured in six days. To the south and west of Kabul, the country's second and third largest cities were almost taken by the Taliban.

The fall of major cities is Afghanistan welcoming the Taliban, said a spokesman for the group, according to Al Jazeera TV. The Taliban claim to have taken control of Herat near the Iranian border.

If Herat is confirmed to be captured by the Taliban, it will be the 10th provincial capital to fall to the Taliban in the past week. In Kandahar, most towns are under the group's control but fighting is still ongoing, a Taliban commander told Reuters.

Illustration of the NATO military in Afghanistan. (Wikimedia Commons/The US Army)

A diplomatic source and a witness said Taliban militants also appeared close to seizing Kandahar in the south, the spiritual home of the group that now controls about two-thirds of the country. Last Thursday, the Taliban captured Ghazni, which can be measured on the Kandahar to Kabul road about 150 km (90 miles) southwest of the capital.

Separately, the United Nations (UN) has warned that if a Taliban attack manages to reach the capital Kabul, it will have catastrophic consequences for civilians. This made the United States and Germany urge their citizens to leave Afghanistan immediately.

In Qatar, the international envoy for Afghanistan negotiations called for an expedited peace process, as a matter of great urgency and for an immediate halt to attacks on cities.

With telephone lines cut across much of the country, Reuters was unable to reach government officials to confirm which cities were attacked that remain in government hands.

Meanwhile, Al Jazeera reported that an Afghan government source had offered to offer the Taliban a share of power if the violence stopped. It was not clear to what extent the reported offer differed from the terms that had been discussed in Qatar.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said he was not aware of such an offer but ruled out power sharing.

"We will not accept an offer like this, because we do not want to partner with the Kabul government. We do not live or work for a day with it," he stressed.

The international envoy in Doha, who met with Afghan government negotiators and representatives of the Taliban, also reiterated that international governments will not recognize any government in Afghanistan, imposed through the use of military force.

Given the pace of the Taliban's progress, the prospect of diplomatic pressure to influence the situation appears small, although a Taliban spokesman told Al Jazeera, "We will not close the door to political paths."