US to send troops to help evacuate personnel in Afghanistan, as Kandahar becomes latest city to fall

UK Defense Secretary Ben Wallace on Friday said he is “absolutely worried” the al Qaeda terrorist group “will probably come back” to Afghanistan after the pullout of United States and British troops there is complete.

“Failed states are breeding grounds for those types of people, of course I’m worried,” Wallace said on Sky News.

“It’s why I said I felt this was not the right time or decision to make because, of course, al Qaeda will probably come back,” he added. 

Wallace’s comments come as Taliban forces, which supported al Qaeda before being ousted by the US-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, move ever closer to taking the capital, Kabul.

Senior Afghan intelligence officials told CNN that al Qaeda could be ready to attack the West by the end of 2022, as the group’s presence in Afghanistan is thriving with support from the Taliban. 

Taliban fighters stand guard along the road in Herat, Afghanistan on August 13.

Almost the entire city of Herat, except the Afghan army corps base, has fallen to the Taliban, the head of the Herat Provincial Council, Kamran Alizai, said Friday.

Herat’s airport was captured Friday morning local time, while Shindand air base, in the neighboring Shindand district, was captured Thursday, Alizai said.

At least 14 of Afghanistan’s 34 provincial capitals have now fallen to the Taliban. 

Lashkar Gah, the capital of Afghanistan’s Helmand province, fell to the Taliban on Thursday night, the head of the Helmand Provincial Council, Attaullah Afghan, confirmed to CNN.

Afghan said the Taliban now controls the city’s police headquarters, governor’s office and central jail. The Taliban raised its flag in the governor’s office early on Friday, he added. 

 The government controls only an army base and a few other locations, Afghan said. 

A view of a closed market in Kandahar, Afghanistan on August 10.

The Taliban has taken control of the city of Kandahar, Afghanistan’s second-largest city, Afghan Member of Parliament Gul Ahmad Kamin told CNN on Friday.

The Taliban said in a statement Friday that “during the conquest operation, the governor’s office, police headquarters and many other centers in Kandahar city were cleared of the enemy last night and were under the control of Mujahidin.”

“Hundreds of weapons, vehicles and ammunition were seized,” the statement says.  

Kamin said he and many others have made their way to a military base by the airport and are awaiting a flight out.

“Many (government) soldiers surrendered and the rest fled,” Kamin said.

The United Nations Security Council is considering a statement on the situation in Afghanistan making clear the Taiban would not receive international recognition should its advancing forces seize power, according to a draft obtained by CNN.

The statement would also condemn “in the strongest terms possible” armed attacks by Taliban forces across the country.

The statement was obtained by CNN from a UN diplomat.

There is no word on the timing of potential approval by all 15 Security Council countries, which is required.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has requested an all-members briefing on Afghanistan from the Biden administration during the week of Aug. 23, when members return from recess, according to a Pelosi aide. 

What we know: The United States is withdrawing personnel from its embassy in Kabul amid the deteriorating security situation in Afghanistan, leaving only “a core diplomatic presence,” the Biden administration announced Thursday as more cities fell to the Taliban.

Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby said 3,000 US troops are being deployed to assist with the drawdown, which is expected to be completed by the end of August.

Retired General Wesley Clark.

Retired Gen. Wesley Clark, former supreme allied commander of NATO, attributed the current dire situation in Afghanistan to “20 years of American misjudgments, of poor prioritizations and failed policies.”

Watch the full interview:

Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin stressed to Afghan President Ashraf Ghani “that the United States remains invested in the security and stability of Afghanistan in the face of violence by the Taliban,” according to a State Department readout of their call Thursday.

An unnamed State Department spokesperson denied reports that Austin and Blinken asked Ghani to step down in order to facilitate a ceasefire and transitional government.

“The United States has not asked President Ghani to resign and rumors indicating we have done so are completely false,” this spokesperson said. “Decisions about who leads the country are for Afghans to make.”

An Afghan security personnel stands guard along a road in Kandahar on July 14.

The fall of Kandahar, Afghanistan’s second largest city, would be viewed as “death knell” for the country’s government and military, CNN’s chief international correspondent Clarissa Ward reports from Kabul.

Twelve provincial Afghanistan capitals are now under Taliban control after the militant group captured two more strategic cities on Thursday, leaving the Afghan capital of Kabul increasingly beleaguered and cut off from the rest of the country.

The city of Herat, Afghanistan’s third-largest city and a major urban center in western Afghanistan, fell to the Taliban on Thursday evening local time, with the group taking control of the governor’s office and Herat police headquarters, according to Afghan officials.

Pentagon spokesman John Kirby speaks during a briefing at the Pentagon, on Thursday, August 12.

Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby said US troops being sent to Hamid Karzai International Airport to support the drawdown of civilian embassy personnel in Afghanistan will be “postured to support airlift” of those personnel and Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) applicants out of the country. Kirby made these comments during a news briefing at the Pentagon Thursday.

Kirby said SIV applicants will be sent to “locations overseas outside of the United States as well as US installations.” Kirby did not know exact locations of where SIV applicants will be sent, he said.

“We anticipate that we’ll be looking at locations overseas outside of the United States as well as US installations that belong to the United States either overseas and/or here at home,” Kirby said. “I don’t have a list for you right now, but I think it’ll be a mix of both.”

So far there have been six flights carrying 995 SIV applicants and their families to the US. Upward of 15,000 applicants remain in country. 

Pentagon press secretary John Kirby today defended the Pentagon’s decision to send 3,000 US troops into Afghanistan as “prudent preparation,” suggesting it is necessary to send so many in order to plan for the worst case scenario. 

“This is about prudent preparation,” said Kirby, responding to a reporter’s question on why the US was sending such a “high” number of troops. “We want to make sure that we’ve got enough on hand to adapt to any contingencies.”

“The secretary believes the safety and security of our people, not just American troops, but our allies and partners and our State Department colleagues is of paramount concern,” Kirby added. “He is not going to add additional risk to that safe movement.”

Two of the infantry battalions headed to Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul are US Marines and one is US Army, Kirby said. All three battalions are coming from the Central Command area of responsibility, which is the part of the US military based in the Middle East.  

Additional UK military personnel will deploy to Afghanistan on a short-term basis to provide support to British nationals leaving the country, a joint news release from the Ministry of Defence and the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office said.

“The security of British nationals, British military personnel and former Afghan staff is our first priority. We must do everything we can to ensure their safety,” UK Defence Secretary Ben Wallace added.

President Joe Biden speaks in the East Room of the White House in Washington on Thursday.

President Biden signed off on the order today to send US troops to Afghanistan, following a meeting last night at the White House, where he tasked his top national security advisers to come up with a plan to present to him this morning, a White House official tells CNN.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan briefed Biden this morning. He gave the order at that time, the official said.

The President did not attend the meetings today, as CNN reported, but the White House is trying to make clear Biden is engaged on this issue and “monitoring closely.”

By sending in 3,000 additional troops into Afghanistan to assist with the departure of diplomats and possible evacuations, the US now will have more troops in the country than what they initially had when they began withdrawal, CNN’s Nick Patton Walsh reported Thursday.

“So, we’re into this extraordinary two- to three-week period. Because they will leave the end of August as part of the plan in which the Americans can be sending in large numbers of troops, obviously with air cover and enablers to keep themselves safe. So essentially establishing a military presence in Kabul,” Patton Walsh told CNN’s Julia Chatterly.

He continued, “It will doubtless have an impact on some of the nearby buildings in areas, providing a degree of security blanket for many of the important parts of Kabul. And frankly, a significant warning sign for the Taliban to stay back from the capital. Not that at this stage, they look like they’re moving close to it that fast. But you then have a situation, two to three weeks down the line, when the US has pulled out its civilian staff, has presumably got out most of the people it wants to see out as part of its’ special immigrant visa program, for those who worked with the Americans. And will then have to… leave again. So that is an extraordinary decision to make and would likely be an extraordinary visual, frankly, when it comes down the road at the end of the month.”

Patton Walsh also elaborated on the stunning ground the Taliban was able to gain, now controlling 12 provincial capitals, including the country’s third largest city Herat and also the city of Ghazni.

“The situation is frankly dire. In one week we’ve seen at least a third of Kabul’s main cities falling to the Taliban. Nobody thought the advance would be this fast,” he said.

A Taliban flag is seen on a plinth with people gathered around the main city square at Pul-e-Khumri on August 11.

The European Union has condemned “increasing violations of International Humanitarian Law (IHL) and human rights” in Taliban-controlled areas of Afghanistan, according to a statement from EU High Representative Josep Borrell released Thursday.

“The Taliban’s ongoing military offensive is in direct contradiction to their stated commitment to a negotiated settlement of the conflict and the Doha peace process,” Borrell said. 

Borrell added that the EU aims to continue to support the Afghan people.

“However, support will be conditioned on a peaceful and inclusive settlement and respect for the fundamental rights of all Afghans, including women, youth and minorities,” Borrell added. “Otherwise, if power is taken by force and an Islamic Emirate re-established, the Taliban would face non-recognition, isolation, lack of international support and the prospect of continued conflict and protracted instability in Afghanistan.”

Pentagon spokesman John Kirby speaks during a briefing at the Pentagon in Washington on Thursday.

Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby said the Defense Department is “aiming to facilitate the reduction of these civilian personnel by August 31,” to line up with the end of August US troop withdrawal deadline set by President Biden.

He added, however, that he could not “speculate about what the footprint’s going to look like post August 31.”

Pentagon spokesman John Kirby speaks during a briefing at the Pentagon in Washington on Thursday.

Pentagon press secretary John Kirby defended the US’ decision to send in more troops into Afghanistan to assist with the departure of diplomats and any possible evacuations, describing the mission as “very temporary.”

Kirby noted that there are “no plans, right now, for additional forces” to be sent in. The official went on to describe why the decision to send more troops was made:

“There wasn’t one precipitating event in the last couple of days that led the President and the secretary to make this decision. It’s a confluence of events. As, I’ve been saying now for several weeks, we have been watching very closely with concern the security situation on the ground. And far better to be prudent and responsible and watching the trends to make the best decisions you can for safety and security of our people than to wait until it’s too late. We believe this is not only the right thing to do, but it’s the right time to do it,” he said.

Kirby added that he would not speculate on the “future of Kabul.”

Following this mission, Kirby said, he anticipates having “less than 1,000 US troops on the ground to support the diplomatic presence in Kabul, which we all agree we want to still be able to have.”

Internally displaced Afghan women from northern provinces, who fled their home due to fighting between the Taliban and Afghan security personnel, receive medical care in a public park in Kabul on August 10.

As Taliban militants sweep across Afghanistan, concerns are growing for the toll on the country’s civilians, particularly women and girls.

Wazhma Frogh, the founder of Women and Peace Studies Organization and a member of Afghanistan High Peace Council, told CNN’s Becky Anderson on Wednesday that more than 60,000 families who have fled the violence elsewhere in Afghanistan are now living on the streets of Kabul.

The United Nations has warned that the humanitarian situation in Afghanistan has deteriorated significantly in recent weeks. Nearly 390,000 people have been displaced since the beginning of 2021 due to conflict across the country, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said during a daily briefing on Wednesday.

UN humanitarian agencies said there has been a huge spike in people leaving their homes since May and that 5,800 people fled to Kabul between July 1 and Aug. 5.

The UN said that they have received food, water, household items and sanitation support, and that while most of them are hosted by friends and family, a growing number of people are staying in the open.

“The stories that we hear from these people who are right now on the streets of Kabul, we hear that the Afghan government has given them space to come to the mosques, inside the mosques at least, because [of] this hot weather,” Frogh added.

She said the situation is particularly worrying for women and girls, adding that one woman she spoke to in the north of the country described how women were being forcibly taken away from their communities amid the fighting.

“Tons of Afghan girls right now, they have no future, just thinking about no school or even survival right now,” she said.

Read more about the situation on the ground here.

Taliban fighters patrol inside the city of Ghazni, southwest of Kabul, on Thursday.

The Taliban has been claiming territory across Afghanistan this week after the Biden administration began withdrawing troops.

Twelve provincial capitals in Afghanistan have now fallen to the Taliban. This is more than a third of the country’s 34 provinces. 

The list includes:

Read more about the significance of these territories here.

 An Afghan security force personnel stands guard along the roadside in Herat on Thursday, as Taliban took over the police headquarters in Herat.

The Taliban captured two strategic cities on Thursday, leaving the Afghan capital of Kabul increasingly beleaguered and cut off from the rest of the country.

The city of Herat, Afghanistan’s third-largest city and a major urban center in western Afghanistan, fell to the Taliban on Thursday evening local time, with the militant group taking control of the governor’s office and Herat police headquarters, according to Afghan officials.

That morning, the city of Ghazni, a provincial capital on the road to Kabul, also fell to the militant group after “long and intense fighting,” according to Nasir Ahmad Faqiri, head of Ghazni provincial council.

Ghazni is the 10th provincial capital to fall to the Taliban in roughly a week. The city lies around 93 miles (150 kilometers) south of Kabul, on a major highway connecting the capital with Kandahar, Afghanistan’s second largest city.

Kandahar, which lies in the south of the country, has been besieged by the Taliban for weeks, and the group’s spokesperson claimed on Wednesday that they had taken control of its prison. The Taliban claimed they had freed 1,000 inmates and distributed a video apparently showing them walking outside the jail.

Gul Ahmad Kamin, a Kandahari member of parliament, told CNN Taliban fighters have been able to break through the frontline into Kandahar and were engaging in sporadic confrontation with government forces inside the city.

Kamin also confirmed that a wedding hall in Kandahar which was the frontline position for Afghan forces is now under the Taliban control. The wedding hall, visited by CNN just days ago, is about 600 meters away from the prison.

What this means: With the capture of Ghazni, the Taliban is now in control of key locations both to the north and south of Kabul. Their earlier capture of areas of the Baghlan province, which lies to the north of Kabul, raised alarms among US officials because the location is considered essential for the defense of the capital, according to a Biden administration official.

A senior administration official familiar with one US intelligence assessment said Kabul could be isolated by the Taliban in the next 30 to 60 days, increasing the potential that the Afghan capital could fall under the control of the militant group.

Another assessment puts the potential collapse within 90 days, according to another US official. Other officials have warned that there are multiple assessments with differing timelines.

Read more about the situation on the ground here.