The Taliban have seized three Regional Capitals in Afghanistan in as many days. The advance is facing little effective resistance in its efforts to move on Kabul and take over any and all areas abandoned by coalition partners. Though some 200 fighters were reportedly killed by a B-52 air strike in Shebergan city of Jawzjan province, this has in no way stopped or halted the advance.
These airstrikes, though numerous, have been of little effect in slowing the current push. Any U.S. Special Operations Forces now on the ground providing laser targeting and JTAC services for Coalition or US Aircraft are now at a greater risk than any time since the invasion of Afghanistan.
The Taliban are now operating all manner of coalition vehicles, including HMMWV (Humvee’s), MRAPS, and a host of other vehicles as their ranks and motor pool continues to swell. In June alone, over 700 vehicles were captured. This type of scene does not play well to American audiences, and thus such scenes have been mostly shielded from US audiences by legacy media outlets. Those that have shown such images and footage have done so sparingly.
In my first post on the withdrawal, I questioned what reaction individuals and leadership would have when faced with their backs against the wall as the Taliban approached at lightning speed. Some of this has been answered as Taliban and Afghan Army Forces met at Kunduz in a happy, supportive way. As I suspected, the need to save ones own neck is often enough to have those who were former enemies just weeks before bend and appease to survive. Security Forces that did not immediately join sides with the Taliban in Kunduz City moved to the Airport hoping to find reinforcements, and aid from an Army Headquarters Unit operating out of the Airports facilities. Instead, what they found were all manner of tired, and beleaguered Security Forces.
The situation in Afghanistan is deteriorating at a rapid pace. Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has blamed the fall of his country on the US withdrawal. He isn’t wrong. But this also underscores the point that he was only the President so long as the US military was patrolling and propping up his administration and the entirety of the Afghan government. And even then, many rural sections of the nation never cared for, acknowledged, or even thought about a Kabul government. The forces that truly govern Afghanistan are more traditional, powerfully ethnic, steeped in history, influenced by regional players, predate anything brought by the Western world, and will be around long after we are out of the region.
The best thing the US government can do at this point is to work with as much haste as possible to get every American out of that country. Many of our local partner forces are welcoming the Taliban with open arms. This means that many on both sides who have feuded for 20 years have decided the war is over, and that they can live together. Let them.
It is time to leave.
CulturalHusbandry, 1776/2021