As the Taliban surge continues unabated and it captures provinces after provinces, Afghan Vice-President Amrullah Saleh on Friday (13 August) held Pakistan responsible for its continued support to the Taliban.
In a tweet sent Saleh, who also served as the director of the Afghan intelligence agency National Directorate of Security (NDS) from 2004 to 2010, he said, “Truth can’t be hidden or faked for long. It comes out and hits back at the liar and the deceiver. Pakistan can’t hide anymore. They are in the war and on the side of the terrorist Taliban,”.
Truth can't be hidden or faked for long. It comes out and hits back at the liar & the deceiver. Pakistan can't hide anymore. They are in the war and on the side of the terrorist Taliban. https://t.co/RDgjIIaYpk
— Amrullah Saleh (@AmrullahSaleh2) August 12, 2021
Saleh is one of the staunchest critics of the Pakistan Army and its notorious intelligence agency, the ISI’s for its interference in Afghanistan’s internal affairs by supporting and sheltering Taliban terrorists.
However, things are looking very bleak for the elected government of Afghanistan as the Taliban has captured Kandahar, Afghanistan’s second-largest city, Herat, its third and the key city of Lashkar Gah, the capital of Helmand province and this puritanical Islamic terror group have already taken control of at least 14 of country’s 34 provincial capitals in a week.
No one thought the Taliban will achieve such victories in such a short period of time. Ghazni which is 53 miles south of Kabul fell to the Islamic group on Thursday (Aug 12) morning local time and the loss of this key city is now seen as the prelude to the eventual takeover of the capital Kabul in the coming weeks.
Ghazni is strategically important as it has a major road that connects the capital to the country’s southern provinces. This loss will not put more pressure on Afghan government forces as the Taliban now controls key locations both north and south of the capital.
Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin spoke to Afghanistan’s President Ashraf Ghani and in a statement released by the US State Department that reads, “Secretary Blinken and Secretary Austin informed President Ghani that the United States is reducing our civilian footprint in Kabul in light of the evolving security situation and will accelerate the tempo of Special Immigration Visa (SIV) flights,”.
“The Secretaries both emphasized that the United States remains committed to maintaining a strong diplomatic and security relationship with the Government of Afghanistan.”
Right now the United Kingdom and the US have sent hundreds of troops to extract American embassy personnel and to facilitate the departure of Afghans under the special immigrant visa program.
Pentagon Press Secretary John F. Kirby said, “We believe that this is the prudent thing to do given the rapidly deteriorating security situation in and around Kabul,”.
Click here to subscribe to The Commune on Telegram and get the best stories of the day delivered to you personally.