Page 27 - bne magazine September 2021_20210901

bne September 2021 Afghanistan falls to theTaliban I 27
Kabul falls to the Taliban in one day
Ben Aris in Berlin
Kabul fell to Taliban forces on August 15 with almost no fighting, completing the Islamic fundamentalists' capture of Afghanistan in just six weeks since the US pulled out.
The mayor of Kabul decided to hand over the city to the advancing Taliban forces without resistance “in order to avoid bloodshed.”
The surrender was unexpectedly quick although widely anticipated and sent embassies scrambling
to evacuate personnel and local workers as chaos rapidly spread.
Helicopters were seen over the US embassy airlifting staff to safety in
a scene reminiscent of the fall and evacuation of Saigon at the end of the Vietnam war – a parallel that was not lost in social media memes.
The panicky rush to evacuate diplomats came the day after US President Joe Biden released a statement promising to deploy 5,000 US troops to ensure
the evacuation of diplomats and Afghans together with their families who had worked for the US forces during their 20-year long occupation.
“I was the fourth President to preside over an American troop presence
in Afghanistan – two Republicans, two Democrats. I would not, and
will not, pass this war onto a fifth,” Biden concluded his statement.
Other European embassies and Nato members also rushed to get their people out. The Taliban quickly captured
Police in Kabul abandoned their posts and either fled or put on civilian clothes, but kept their weapons according
to eyewitness accounts in Kabul.
“Have been talking with police in downtown Kabul. Some have left their posts, others have put on civilian dress but keep their weapons. Some vow to stick together, others go
“I was the fourth President to preside over an American troop presence in Afghanistan – two Republicans, two Democrats. I would not, and will not, pass this war onto a fifth”
Bagram airbase, long the headquarters of the US military in Afghanistan,
and released thousands of prisoners still held there. However, US armed forces still in the country took control of Kabul’s international airport and kept it functioning. Turkey has been discussing plans for a contingent of
its troops to remain in Afghanistan to secure the airport, but those plans will now almost certainly have to be torn up.
their own way, but none say they want to fight the Taliban,” tweeted Matthieu Aikins, a journalist for the New York Times in Kabul.
Armed Taliban forces were soon in the capital and taking control of the streets. Taliban officials attempted to calm nerves and issued a number of statements. In particular the Taliban promised there would be no revenge
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