Afghan conflict: Taliban take Mazar-e-Sharif, government's last northern stronghold

Taliban fighters have captured Mazar-e-Sharif, the last major city in northern Afghanistan still under government control, local officials said.

Militants who now control most of local provincial capitals are edging closer to the capital Kabul, as their rapid advance shows no sign of slowing.

President Ashraf Ghani travelled Mazar - a traditional anti-Taliban bastion, two days ago to rally troops.

More than a quarter of a million people have been displaced by the violence.

With much of the country in Taliban hands many of those fleeing have headed towards Kabul in the hope of finding safety.

Women in areas captured by the Taliban described being forced to wear burkas and the militants are also reported to have beaten and lashed people for breaking social rules.

US troops now in Kabul will be able to airlift thousands of people a day, officials say.

Around 600 British troops are due to arrive in the city this weekend to help with the withdrawal of UK citizens. They will also assist the relocation of Afghans who helped British forces and now risk reprisals from the Taliban.

Other Western countries are now scrambling to evacuate their nationals, scaling back their presence in Afghanistan and in some cases closing their embassies altogether.

A number of cities have negotiated surrenders with the Taliban as resistance from government forces crumbles. However, there is no sign of that happening in Kabul.

The capitals of two more provinces, Paktika and Kunar, fell to the militants on Saturday. Unverified footage from the city of Assadabad, in Kunar, showed people waving the Taliban flag and walking through the streets.

Later on Saturday, local officials said the northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif - the fourth largest city in Afghanistan - fell without a fight.

"The Taliban have taken control of Mazar-e-Sharif," Afzal Hadid, head of the Balkh provincial council, told Reuters news agency, adding that soldiers abandoned their equipment and headed towards the border with Uzbekistan.

The Taliban are now in control of more than half of the provincial capitals in the country.

Ghani addresses the nation

In a pre-recorded TV address on Saturday, Mr Ghani said a top priority was the remobilisation of the Afghan armed forces to prevent further destruction and displacement of people.

Mr Ghani said he would not let a war that was "imposed" on people "cause more deaths", and praised the "courageous" security forces.

The speech came amid speculation by some that Mr Ghani may have been about to announce his resignation.

The UN has appealed to neighbouring countries to keep their borders open so that displaced Afghans can reach safety. UN Secretary General António Guterres said the situation was spinning out of control.

Afghan war - the basics

• US-led forces toppled the Taliban: In 2001 US-led forces overthrew Afghanistan's Taliban rulers after the 9/11 attacks masterminded by al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, who was based there.
• Twenty years of occupation and military operations followed: The US and allies oversaw elections and built up Afghan security forces, but the Taliban continued to launch attacks.
• Eventually the US made a deal with the Taliban: They would pull out if the militants agreed not to host terrorist groups. But talks between the Taliban and the Afghan government failed. US-led forces withdrew this year and the Taliban have now retaken most of the country.

Afghan conflict: Taliban take Mazar-i-Sharif, government's last northern stronghold

The militants head for the Afghan capital after capturing the key city of Mazar-i-Sharif.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[Drkinferno72]

You know the taliban are waiting until the anniversary of 9/11 to declare themselves back as the rulers of Afghanistan

 

[Blamo]

The Taliban's roll surprised no one. I rate Kabul: 0/10 worst US client ever.

The UN has appealed to neighbouring countries to keep their borders open so that displaced Afghans can reach safety.

Read: All of them will end up in Europe and North America.

 

[Chilson]

The Taliban's roll surprised no one. I rate Kabul: 0/10 worst US client ever.

Read: All of them will end up in Europe and North America.

And I am sure no Taliban or Taliban aligned terrorist groups will use these open borders to their advantage. Surely not, that would be illegal and we asked them very nicely not to.

Its genuinely distressing how cucked and childishly naïve the western world is right now.

 

[deso2y]

Mfw Talitubbies BTFO the US and undo everything the LGBTQArmy did over the last 20 years in 20 days

 

[Blamo]

And I am sure no Taliban or Taliban aligned terrorist groups will use these open borders to their advantage. Surely not, that would be illegal and we asked them very nicely not to.

Its genuinely distressing how cucked and childishly naïve the western world is right now.

Terrorism is a meme. Islamic terrorism in the west wouldn't exist if 1) there wouldn't be millions of muslims imported during a so called "war on terror" and 2) if the spooks didn't tolerate it so they can have wars in the Middle East making Haliburton and friends richer.

The Taliban just wants to chill in place. They would be retarded to do something that would make yet another great/super power trying to go there and secure the "world island" or someshit.

 

[JosephStalin]

Once again, the USA fucks themselves and a lot of innocent people with "mission creep". In 2001 all we needed to do was kick out the Taliban and set the stage for elections on the way out. Instead, some dumbfucks who never read any history decide on "nation-building", in a place that's arguably one of the least fitting. Afghanistan's a medieval place. Always has been. Always will be. Brits and Soviets learned the hard way. Now, so have we, finally. Guess we'll see if the Chinese take their turn at fucking the Afghans and themselves.

Certain people in Washington simply would not pay attention. How many times did supposed "loyal" Afghans kill and injure US/Coalition troops? How well did the Afghans take care of ANYTHING provided to them by the US/Coalition? How many Afghan military didn't go back after going overseas for training?

And what was the net result, for all the American casualties and money spent? A bunch of people stupid enough to believe what we told them and now in terror for their lives. That's all. You can't kill an idea, and the Taliban knew they could wait out the US, in the end.

Disgusting. Idealism meets reality and once again gets its' ass handed to it.

 

[Chilson]

Terrorism is a meme. Islamic terrorism in the west wouldn't exist if 1) there wouldn't be millions of muslims imported during a so called "war on terror" and 2) if the spooks didn't tolerate it so they can have wars in the Middle East making Haliburton and friends richer.

The Taliban just wants to chill in place. They would be retarded to do something that would make yet another great/super power trying to go there and secure the "world island" or someshit.

I mean...they are a bunch of goat herding zealots larping like its the crusades. Doesn't exactly attract the most logical bunch.

 

[Lone MacReady]

Terrorism is a meme. Islamic terrorism in the west wouldn't exist if 1) there wouldn't be millions of muslims imported during a so called "war on terror" and 2) if the spooks didn't tolerate it so they can have wars in the Middle East making Haliburton and friends richer.

The Taliban just wants to chill in place. They would be retarded to do something that would make yet another great/super power trying to go there and secure the "world island" or someshit.

Generation Kill said it best 13 long years ago. Their Troops are hard Men, and ours Bitch if their MREs don't come with a fucking pop-tart.

 

[los pepes]

Generation Kill said it best 13 long years ago. Their Troops are hard Men, and ours Bitch if their MREs don't come with a fucking pop-tart.

Which is why it was so tragically comedic watching the US Embassy globohomo twit account posting "b-..b-... but you are committing war crimes! WAR CRIMES! DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND WE'RE CALLING YOU OUT ON TWITTER?! THAT MEANS WE WIN!!!!!"

Every other problem these clowns have they run to twitter and whine about someone, brigade them, and get their way. It's the only thing they know how to do. They think they can twitter shame the Taliban.

 

[Kheapathic]

If anyone is curious; they're moving so fast because the actual Afghanis who are interested in the bullshit America was trying to do with its nation building are so far and few between, the Taliban is just rolling up, killing a few people, and the rest of the able-bodied men are joining them. It was always a waiting game, and the Taliban knew they had homefield advantage.

 

[thismanlies]

Generation Kill said it best 13 long years ago. Their Troops are hard Men, and ours Bitch if their MREs don't come with a fucking pop-tart.

And those soldiers weren’t raised to bitch about gender pronouns.

 

[Alex Krycek]

Hope the Hazara are going to be okay.

 

[Sped Xing]

They didn't even take long enough for us to get all those cool maps like with Syria and Iraq.

You can't kill an idea, and the Taliban knew they could wait out the US, in the end.

I mean, you CAN kill an idea, but you gotta be a lot more thorough and brutal than an American.

 

[LaxerBRO]

Once again, the USA fucks themselves and a lot of innocent people with "mission creep". In 2001 all we needed to do was kick out the Taliban and set the stage for elections on the way out. Instead, some dumbfucks who never read any history decide on "nation-building", in a place that's arguably one of the least fitting. Afghanistan's a medieval place. Always has been. Always will be. Brits and Soviets learned the hard way. Now, so have we, finally. Guess we'll see if the Chinese take their turn at fucking the Afghans and themselves.

Certain people in Washington simply would not pay attention. How many times did supposed "loyal" Afghans kill and injure US/Coalition troops? How well did the Afghans take care of ANYTHING provided to them by the US/Coalition? How many Afghan military didn't go back after going overseas for training?

And what was the net result, for all the American casualties and money spent? A bunch of people stupid enough to believe what we told them and now in terror for their lives. That's all. You can't kill an idea, and the Taliban knew they could wait out the US, in the end.

Disgusting. Idealism meets reality and once again gets its' ass handed to it.

The best part about this is that we knew this before we went in. Here is a Reason article from October 2001:

The chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Sen. Joseph Biden (D‐Del.), recently claimed that an American‐led nation‐building effort in Central and South Asia is the long‐term solution to the terrorism problem. For Biden, this nation‐building effort should focus on changing the economic and social climate of Afghanistan and its neighbors, and include something akin to the Marshall Plan’s reconstruction of Europe after World War II. Besides setting an awkward precedent — that harboring terrorists will eventually bring new roads and heaps of foreign aid — Biden’s nation‐building recommendation overlooks the obvious: Postwar Afghanistan will look nothing like postwar Germany, or for that matter, postwar Japan.
For starters, the high level of education and industrial know‐how in postwar Germany and Japan helped launch an economic recovery in both countries that is inconceivable almost anywhere else. Germany also had a strong tradition of the rule of law, property rights, and free trade before the Nazi era. Japan’s elite embraced an honorific culture that respected and obeyed the wishes of the victor in battle. Afghanistan and its neighbors, in contrast, have little in the way of either liberal traditions or cultural attitudes that are agreeable to massive foreign interference.
What’s more, the leaders of Germany and Japan were not just utterly defeated in war. Their ideology was totally discredited in the eyes of their own people by war’s end. This made both countries prime candidates for nation building. It’s premature to assume the same pattern will hold for the leaders of the Taliban. Radical Islam could remain dominant, and its defenders could be seen as national heroes or martyrs.
Another probable difference: Even before World War II ended, the Germans and Japanese had become amenable to Washington’s policy prescriptions. In fact, according to University of Illinois political scientist Richard Merritt, by the time the war ended, substantial numbers of Germans “were disgusted by what the Nazis had done and increasingly realized that Nazi actions were not accidental but were consistent with and even prefigured by Nazi ideology.… To some measure, then, the American Military Government enjoyed a ready market for its product.” By the end of the war the Japanese, too, had become receptive to profound political change in ways not replicated since.
There’s little evidence the United States will enjoy a “ready market” for its product in Afghanistan. History, in fact, points in the opposite direction. The Afghans did not attack Moscow’s puppet regime in Kabul and fight a war with Soviet invaders in the 1980s because they wanted democracy, liberalism, and free markets. They did it because they opposed forces trying to secularize and modernize their country; i.e., nation build. This presents a major problem for those who would equate nation building in Afghanistan with nation building in postwar Germany or Japan.
Or take Biden’s idea of a Marshall Plan. It is telling that one has to go back more than 50 years to find an example of such a scheme that worked. Similar plans since then have routinely failed. Indeed, since World War II the United States alone has provided $1 trillion in foreign aid to countries around the world. The result? According to the United Nations, 70 of the countries that received aid are poorer today than they were in 1980, and an incredible 43 are worse off than in 1970. Good intentions must be matched by an effective, non‐corrupt administration on the receiving end.
The failures are not so surprising if one studies the Marshall Plan experience in detail. If massive government spending could work anywhere, it was in 1948 Europe: Skilled labor was largely available, the rule of law and property rights had a long history, and the customs of a commercial society were recoverable. All it needed was physical capital. But even under those circumstances, there is no real evidence that the Marshall Plan alone was responsible for Europe’s regeneration. U.S. assistance never exceeded 5 percent of the GDP of any recipient nation, and there seemed to be an inverse relationship between economic aid and economic recovery. In fact, France, Germany, and Italy all began to grow before the onset of the Marshall Plan, and Great Britain, the largest recipient of aid, performed the most poorly.
The real lesson of the Marshall Plan is that the rule of law, property rights, free markets, and an entrepreneurial culture are what are necessary for economic success. Afghanistan has none of these things. And well‐meaning senators in Washington can’t make it otherwise.