US/NATO operations in Afghanistan:

kvs wrote:The government of Afghanistan is losing ground quickly.
Interesting point about how the US installed regimes are not able to stand on their own.

US troops leave Afghanistan’s Bagram airbase after nearly 20 years

US troops have left Bagram, the sprawling airbase north of Kabul that was the symbolic and operational heart of the American military operation in Afghanistan.

With that hub handed over to Afghan security forces, it sets the scene for the final departure of American forces from the country only months before the 20th anniversary of the start of US operations to topple the Taliban, launched in response to the 9/11 attacks.

The US departure was marred by disorganisation. There was a gap between the American troops leaving and their Afghan replacements arriving, allowing looters to ransack parts of the base.

“Unfortunately the Americans left without any coordination with Bagram district officials or the governor’s office,” the district administrator, Darwaish Raufi, told the Associated Press.

The Pentagon said the outgoing US force commander, General Austin Miller, would be formally handing over his responsibilities to US Central Command chief General Kenneth McKenzie “effective later this month”.

US President Joe Biden denied reports that the US withdrawal would be completed in the next few days, but then ducked further questions at the White House, saying he wanted to celebrate the 4 July holiday weekend and would address the issue next week. The White House spokesperson, Jen Psaki, later said the withdrawal would be complete “by the end of August”.

However, only a minimal presence remains. Although the Pentagon has stopped giving up updates on forces levels, there are thought to be less than a thousand US troops left in Afghanistan, virtually all in Kabul, where they will provide security for the embassy and potentially for the international airport.

Bagram, which lies about 40 miles (64km) north of the Afghan capital, Kabul, was the hub of US operations and is strategically vital to anyone who wants to hold it. It was captured at the start of that campaign and remained the key staging point for international hardware and personnel over the past two decades, offering a first glimpse of Afghanistan to everyone, from footsoldiers to presidents.

A ceremony on Saturday will mark the official transfer of Bagram to government control, an Afghan official said, but like the rest of the foreign drawdown, the transfer was managed largely without fanfare.

Most of America’s Nato allies have already taken their troops home, in a muted end to an international mission that began two decades ago as a show of committed solidarity with a still stunned and grieving America.

Britain and Turkey are among the last few nations still to have boots on the ground. UK soldiers are expected to leave within days, although special forces may keep a covert presence, documents leaked to the BBC suggested recently.

The Turkish military is in negotiations to remain in Kabul, securing the international airport, with some international military presence considered vital to foreign embassies staying open there. About 650 US soldiers will stay on to guard their compound.

But with Bagram’s runway and hangers handed over to Afghan troops, the Taliban are likely to start testing its defences, although defending such a strategic and propaganda prize will be a priority for the Afghan armed forces.

Built by Soviet engineers in the 1950s, the airbase has been at the heart of two ill-fated foreign military campaigns, one launched by Moscow in 1979, and America’s own “war on terror”, dubbed the “forever war” because it seemed to have no endpoint.

In 2001, the base was devastated by years of civil war; the two ends of its 3km-long runway held by opposing factions. But the US quickly built it into a sprawling citadel that embodied the problems, waste and contradictions of the international military effort in Afghanistan.

It had a “black jail”, second only to Guantanamo in its notoriety, where Afghans swept up on suspicion of Taliban or al-Qaida connections were tortured and in some cases killed. The murder of a taxi driver in detention there was the subject of an Oscar-winning documentary.

But there were also boardwalks, fast food restaurants, a sewage treatment camp and even at one point a swimming pool. At its peak, 40,000 military personnel and civilian contractors were stationed there, many of whom saw no more of Afghanistan than the six square miles enclosed within its blast walls and razor wire fences, and the mountains surrounding them.

Rockets sometimes landed inside its perimeter, and there were insider attacks by Afghan security forces, but the camp was deemed safe enough to host visiting VIPs, including celebrities on morale boosting tours and senior politicians.

Camp commanders were so far removed from the threats facing soldiers at frontline posts, they had time to dream up a “Bagram Batman” campaign, dealing with petty military offences such as unauthorised use of cars, or misplacing weapons.

Taliban spokesman Sohail Shaheen said the group welcomed the US departure from Bagram. The militants have been seizing swathes of territory across the country in recent months as foreign troops headed home, taking control of 50 out of nearly 400 districts since May.

Gen Austin Miller, the top US commander in Afghanistan warned last week the country could be headed for civil war. He said on Friday that despite the Bagram handover, the US “still retains all the capabilities and authorities to protect the forces” stationed in Kabul.

Few politicians want to highlight that a military project launched to destroy the Taliban is ending with the group resurgent across Afghanistan.

The US withdrawal agreement was reached under Donald Trump, but Biden has pushed ahead with the drawdown, saying on Friday it was “on track”, despite warnings about the grave security threats. Some intelligence analysts have warned the government in Kabul could collapse within months.

Asked about that possibility, Biden responded: “We were in that war for 20 years … I think they have the capacity to sustain the government.”

In the face of further questioning from the press, the president responded: “I’m not going to answer any more quick questions on Afghanistan. Look, it’s the 4th of July. I’m concerned you guys are asking me questions I’ll answer next week. But it’s a holiday weekend. I’m going to celebrate it. There’s great things happening.”

Biden told his Afghan counterpart, Ashraf Ghani, on a visit to Washington last month that “Afghans are going to have to decide their future”. Peace talks between the government and the Taliban, meant to be kickstarted by the US withdrawal, have largely stalled as militants try to consolidate their position on the ground.

Afghanistan: All foreign troops must leave by deadline - Taliban

Any foreign troops left in Afghanistan after Nato's September withdrawal deadline will be at risk as occupiers, the Taliban has told the BBC.

It comes amid reports that 1,000 mainly US troops could remain on the ground to protect diplomatic missions and Kabul's international airport.

Nato's 20-year military mission in the country has all but ended.

But violence in the country continues to rise, with the Taliban taking more territory.

As Afghan forces prepare to take charge of security alone, concern is growing for the future of Kabul.

Taliban spokesman Suhail Shaheen said seizing Kabul militarily was "not Taliban policy".

But speaking to the BBC from the militant group's office in Qatar, he said no foreign forces - including military contractors - should remain in the city after the withdrawal was complete.

"If they leave behind their forces against the Doha agreement then in that case it will be the decision of our leadership how we proceed," Mr Shaheen told the BBC.

"We would react and the final decision is with our leadership," he said.

Diplomats, NGOs and other foreign civilians would not be targeted by the Taliban, he insisted, and no ongoing protection force for them was needed.

"We are against the foreign military forces, not diplomats, NGOs and workers and NGOs functioning and embassies functioning - that is something our people need. We will not pose any threat to them," he said.

Mr Shaheen described last week's withdrawal from Bagram Airfield - once the largest US military base in Afghanistan - as a "historic moment".

Under a deal with the Taliban, the US and its Nato allies agreed to withdraw all troops in return for a commitment by the militants not to allow al-Qaeda or any other extremist group to operate in the areas they control.

President Joe Biden set a deadline of 11 September - the 20-year anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on the US - for American troops to fully withdraw, but reports suggest the pullout may be complete within days.

An Afghan MP speaking on behalf of the Afghan government said the withdrawal was being carried out irresponsibly.

The MP, Razwan Murad, told the BBC that the government was ready for talks and a ceasefire and the Taliban should now prove that they were committed to peace.

Mr Shaheen denied that the militant group had played any part in the recent uptick in violence.

He insisted that many districts had fallen to the Taliban through mediation after Afghan soldiers refused to fight.

On Sunday, the Taliban captured another area in southern Kandahar province. The militants say they now control about a quarter of the country's nearly 400 districts.

The Taliban spokesman described the current government as "moribund" and referred to the country as the "Islamic emirate" - an indication that the group envisaged a theocratic basis for governing the country and were unlikely to agree to Afghan government demands for elections.

Mr Shaheen said elections had so far not been raised in negotiations between the Taliban and the Afghan government.

US-led forces ousted the Taliban from power in Afghanistan in October 2001. The group had been harbouring Osama Bin Laden and other al-Qaeda figures linked to the 9/11 attacks in the US.

President Biden has said the American pull-out is justified as US forces have made sure Afghanistan cannot again become a base for foreign jihadists to plot against the West.

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, meanwhile, insists that the country's security forces are fully capable of keeping insurgents at bay, but many believe the withdrawal risks casting the country back into the grip of the Taliban.

JohninMK wrote:Video at link. After the Afgan Army took over and as you might expect, tons of expensive gear.

Status-6
@Archer83Able
Scenes from the Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan after the withdrawal of the US troops last Friday.

https://twitter.com/Archer83Able/status/1412071152349061125

Finty wrote:

JohninMK wrote:Video at link. After the Afgan Army took over and as you might expect, tons of expensive gear.

Status-6
@Archer83Able
Scenes from the Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan after the withdrawal of the US troops last Friday.

https://twitter.com/Archer83Able/status/1412071152349061125

Indeed, but at this time least there aren't 2,500 humvees left to by knicked by the enemy, a la Iraq!

Boris Johnson announces end of UK military mission in Afghanistan


Labour says ‘washing hands’ of conflict now will lead to bloodier war and wider Taliban control

Boris Johnson has announced the end of Britain’s military mission in Afghanistan following a hasty and secretive exit of the last remaining troops 20 years after the post-9/11 invasion that started the “war on terror”.

The prime minister confirmed to MPs that the intervention, which claimed the lives of 457 British soldiers, would end even as the insurgent Taliban were rapidly gaining territory in rural areas and UK, US and other forces withdrew.

Speaking in the Commons, Johnson said “all British troops assigned to Nato’s mission in Afghanistan are now returning home”. While he would not disclose the exact timetable of the departure for security reasons, the prime minister added: “I can tell the house that most of our personnel have already left.”

In a separate defence briefing, the head of the armed forces, Sir Nick Carter, acknowledged that recent news from Afghanistan had been “pretty grim” but said the Afghan military had been regrouping to defend urban areas.

He said that while it was fair to say the Taliban now held nearly 50% of the rural districts in Afghanistan and that the Afghan army would also no longer have access to western air power from within the country, he hoped there would eventually be peace talks between the Taliban and Afghan government.

Britain’s remaining 750-strong contingent, part of a wider Nato stabilisation mission, has been leaving the country over the past few weeks to an operational deadline of 4 July after the US president, Joe Biden, said he wanted to pull out most of the remaining 2,500 American combat troops.

Flag-lowering ceremonies have been largely conducted in secret as British forces have pulled out. The last of them took place on 24 June, when the union flag was handed to the British ambassador. Defence sources said the secrecy was at the request of the US, citing operational security.

Johnson and Carter both argued that the intervention in Afghanistan had helped foster fundamental changes in the country, citing improvements in access to electricity, water and education, with 8.2 million more children in school.

Classrooms included 3.6 million girls, added Johnson, highlighting that before 2001 in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan, “virtually no girls attended school”.

Labour said Britain was leaving without having secured the gains of the past 20 years. Angela Rayner, the party’s deputy leader, said that while nobody wanted to see British troops permanently stationed in Afghanistan, “if we simply wash our hands or walk away it is hard to see a future without bloodier conflict and wider Taliban control”.

In reply, Johnson said he did not believe the Taliban were “guaranteed the kind of victory that you sometimes read about”. Later in the debate he added that the British intervention in Afghanistan “was never intended at any stage to be an open-ended commitment”.

There was also unease on the Conservative benches. The former party leader Iain Duncan Smith told MPs the withdrawal was “a little bit like the last days of Vietnam, an unprecedented and hurried exit with no commitment”.

Waheed Omer, adviser to the Afghan president, Ashraf Ghani, and the director general of the public and strategic affairs office, said: “We respect the decision, we understand that our allies make their decisions based on their national interests. We cannot live in the past. What we are now concerned with is the new chapter, and how these relations are going to be realistically aligned to the new realities.”

Britain will leave behind a small number of troops to support a US-led protection force for diplomats in Kabul, although the Ministry of Defence would not say how many were remaining on the ground.

The RAF could become involved in providing air support from airbases outside Afghanistan, following the abandonment last week of the main Bagram base. Losing easy access to air power is a big loss for the Afghan army as it battles to fend off the Taliban advance.

The Foreign Office also intends to maintain an embassy in Kabul, although it will not, at least initially, be guarded by British troops. The UK government will provide £100m in aid and £58m for Afghan defence forces.

Carter said no provincial capital had fallen in Afghanistan and that it was “entirely possible that the Afghan government defeats the Taliban for long enough for the Taliban to realise that they have to talk”.

But he admitted it was one of three possible scenarios for the country, the others being a return to warlordism and a Taliban victory.

Johnson also resisted calls to hold a public inquiry into the war along the lines of the Chilcot report on Iraq, which Tobias Ellwood, the chair of the defence select committee, called for in the Commons. It would take too long, Johnson said, adding that the Chilcot inquiry had taken seven years and “cost millions”.

British soldiers who served could hold up their heads “very high”, Carter suggested. He paid tribute to the soldiers who had died over the past 20 years. The British army now had a new “combat ethos” learned from fighting in Helmand. “They were never defeated on the battlefield,” he said.

Biden defends decision to end Afghan military operation


US President Joe Biden has defended his decision to withdraw military forces from Afghanistan, saying that US operations will end on 31 August.

The fourth US president to oversee the war also defended the speed of the US withdrawal, saying it saved lives.

Mr Biden's speech comes as the Taliban militant group continues to seize territory around the country.

US forces have fought in Afghanistan for nearly 20 years, following the terror attacks of 11 September 2001.

Earlier this year, Mr Biden set a 11 September 2021 goal of withdrawing all US troops.

Donald Trump had agreed with the Taliban to pull out US troops by May 2021, but that deadline was pushed back by Mr Biden after he took office in January.

"Just one more year of fighting in Afghanistan is not a solution," Mr Biden said in a White House speech, "but a recipe for fighting there indefinitely."

He also denied that a Taliban takeover is "inevitable," saying that the Taliban force of approximately 75,000 fighters is no match for the 300,000 Afghan security forces.

Even after the total pull out is complete, the US is expected to keep 650 to 1,000 troops in Afghanistan to guard the US embassy, Kabul airport, and other key government installations.

Recent polls have shown broad US support for leaving Afghanistan, with Republican voters more sceptical of the decision to withdraw.

Mr Biden also said that efforts are being made to get translators, interpreters and other Afghans that worked with the US government out of the country. He said 2,500 special immigrant visas have been been issued to allow them to come to the United States, but only half have come so far.

Last month, Mr Biden assured Afghan leaders at a White House meeting that US aid will continue.

The vast majority of remaining foreign forces in Afghanistan have left ahead of the US 11 September deadline, leaving the Afghan military completely in charge of national security.

President Ashraf Ghani insists that Afghan security forces are fully capable of keeping insurgents at bay, but there have been reports of thousands of Afghan troops seeking refuge in other countries to avoid the fighting.

Earlier in the week, Taliban spokesman Suhail Shaheen told the BBC that the group was not responsible for the recent increase in violence. He insisted that many districts had fallen to the Taliban through mediation after Afghan soldiers refused to fight.

Finty wrote:Well at least Biden has faith in the Afghan government...!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-57770436

Biden defends decision to end Afghan military operation
....He also denied that a Taliban takeover is "inevitable," saying that the Taliban force of approximately 75,000 fighters is no match for the 300,000 Afghan security forces....

PapaDragon wrote:

Finty wrote:Well at least Biden has faith in the Afghan government...!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-57770436

Biden defends decision to end Afghan military operation
....He also denied that a Taliban takeover is "inevitable," saying that the Taliban force of approximately 75,000 fighters is no match for the 300,000 Afghan security forces....

I think he might have flipped the paper upside-down

US to continue air strikes to support Afghan forces fighting the Taliban, general says
The United States will continue air strikes in support of Afghan forces fighting the Taliban, a top US general said Sunday, as the insurgents press on with offensives across the country.

Since early May, violence has surged after the insurgents launched a sweeping assault just days after the US-led foreign forces began their final withdrawal.

The Taliban's deadly assault has seen the insurgents capture scores of districts, border crossings and encircle several provincial capitals.

"The United States has increased air strikes in the support of Afghan forces over the last several days, and we are prepared to continue this heightened level of support in the coming weeks if the Taliban continue their attacks," General Kenneth McKenzie, head of the US Army Central Command, told reporters in Kabul.

McKenzie acknowledged that there were tough days ahead for the Afghan government, but insisted that the Taliban were nowhere close to victory.

"The Taliban are attempting to create a sense of inevitability about their campaign. They are wrong," he said.

"Taliban victory is not inevitable."

McKenzie's remarks came as Afghan officials in the southern province of Kandahar said fighting in the region had displaced about 22,000 families in the past month.

"They have all moved from the volatile districts of the city to safer areas," Dost Mohammad Daryab, head of the provincial refugee department, told AFP.

On Sunday, fighting continued on the outskirts of Kandahar city.

"The negligence of some security forces, especially the police, has made way for the Taliban to come that close," Lalai Dastageeri, deputy governor of Kandahar province, told AFP.

"We are now trying to organise our security forces."

Fears that fighting will increase

Local authorities had set up four camps for the displaced people who are estimated to be about 154,000.

Kandahar resident Hafiz Mohammad Akbar said his house had been taken over by the Taliban after he fled.

"They forced us to leave... I am now living with my 20-member family in a compound with no toilet," said Akbar.

Residents expressed concerns the fighting might increase in days ahead.

"If they really want to fight, they should go to a desert and fight, not destroy the city," said Khan Mohammad, who moved to a camp with his family.

"Even if they win, they can't rule a ghost town."

Kandahar, with its 650,000 inhabitants, is the second-largest city in Afghanistan after Kabul.

The southern province was the epicentre of the Taliban's regime when they ruled Afghanistan between 1996 to 2001.

Ousted from power in a US-led invasion in 2001 after the September 11 attacks, the Taliban have spearheaded a deadly insurgency that continues to this day.

Their latest offensive launched in early May has seen the group take control of half of the country's about 400 districts.

Earlier this week, the chairman of the US joint chiefs of staff General Mark Milley said the Taliban appear to have "strategic momentum" on the battlefield.

Rights group points to evidence of Taliban abuses

Global rights group Human Rights Watch said there were reports the Taliban were committing atrocities against civilians in areas they had captured, including in the town of Spin Boldak near the border with Pakistan they took earlier this month.

"Taliban leaders have denied responsibility for any abuses, but growing evidence of expulsions, arbitrary detentions, and killings in areas under their control are raising fears among the population," said Patricia Grossman, associate Asia director at HRW in a statement.

The authorities meanwhile announced they had arrested four men they said belonged to the Taliban, accusing them of carrying out this week's rocket attack on Kabul.

"A Taliban commander, Momin, along with his three other men, have been arrested. They all belong to the Taliban group," ministry spokesman Mirwais Stanikzai told reporters in a video message.

At least three rockets landed near the palace on Tuesday as President Ashraf Ghani and his top officials performed outdoor prayers to mark the start of the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha.

The attack was however claimed by the jihadist Islamic State group.

Afghanistan curfew imposed as Taliban militants advance


The Afghan government imposed a month-long curfew across almost all of the country on Saturday in a bid to stop the Taliban from invading cities.

Fighting between the Taliban and Afghan government forces has increased over the past two months as international troops pull out of the country.

The militant group is thought to have captured up to half of all territory.

As US forces have withdrawn, the Taliban has made rapid gains, retaking border crossings and rural areas.

There are concerns that with peace talks moving slowly, the focus of fighting will increasingly turn to more heavily populated urban centres.

That has prompted a top American commander to say the US will continue carrying out airstrikes in support of Afghan troops. General Kenneth MacKenzie said a Taliban victory was not inevitable.

But he did not say if the strikes would continue beyond the end of the US military mission on 31 August.

The Taliban - a fundamentalist Islamist militia who were pushed out of power by the US invasion nearly 20 years ago - has also seized key roads as it seeks to cut off supply routes.

Its fighters have been closing in on a number of major cities, but have not yet been able to capture one.

The curfew bans all movement from 22:00 to 04:00 (17:30-23:30 GMT), apart from in the capital Kabul and two other provinces.

The interior ministry said the new curfew was "to curb violence and limit the Taliban movements", adding that Kabul, Panjshir and Nangarhar were exempt.

As the Taliban continues to advance, fierce clashes have taken place this week outside the city of Kandahar.

In response, the US launched airstrikes against militants in the area on Thursday. But with US operations in Afghanistan officially ending on 31 August, there are concerns about the months ahead.

US-led forces ousted the Taliban from power in Afghanistan in October 2001. The group had been harbouring Osama Bin Laden and other figures linked to the 11 September attacks on the US.

President Biden has said the American pull-out is justified as US forces have made sure Afghanistan cannot again become a base for foreign jihadists to plot against the West.

Earlier this month, American troops quietly departed from Bagram airfield, a sprawling base that was the centre of US operations in Afghanistan and once held tens of thousands of troops.

Some US analysts fear the Taliban could take control of the country within six months.

But Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin said the security forces could make progress, and their priority should be to slow the momentum of the advance before trying to take territory from the Taliban.