President Ashraf Ghani of Afghanistan stated on Saturday that the country is in grave risk of instability, but that he will not abandon the country’s “achievements” of the previous 20 years. Ashraf Ghani said he was engaging with local leaders and international partners on the country’s predicament in a brief televised address on Saturday.
Even as the Taliban took a region south of Afghanistan’s capital and launched a multi-pronged attack early Saturday, the Afghan President stated that remobilization of the armed forces was the main priority.
In a brief broadcast address, Ghani stated, “My priority as your president is on preventing additional instability, violence, and displacement of my people.”
Despite rumours to the contrary, the Afghan President made no announcements or gave any signals about his resignation, which was one of the Taliban’s demands.
Ashraf Ghani last appeared in public on Wednesday in Mazar-e-Sharif, a northern city where rebels started a multi-pronged onslaught early Saturday.
The Taliban have taken control of much of northern, western, and southern Afghanistan, and are currently fighting government forces just 11 kilometres (7 miles) south of Kabul.
The fast advance comes fewer than three weeks before the United States withdraws its final forces from the conflict, which has lasted nearly two decades.
The rebels’ recent gains have largely gone unnoticed by Ashraf Ghani and other prominent officials in the Western-backed administration.
Meanwhile, the Taliban advanced on Kabul on Saturday, taking a major city near the Afghan capital as American troops flew in to assist in the evacuation of embassy personnel and other civilians.
The insurgents grabbed Pul-e-Alam, around 70 kilometres (40 miles) from Kabul and the capital of Logar province, according to a local provincial council member. On the condition of anonymity, he told Reuters that the Taliban did not confront much opposition.
The rebels grabbed control of the city, which is a major staging base for a possible assault on Kabul, a day after they took control of the country’s second and third largest cities.
Insurgents have taken control of most of northern, western, and southern Afghanistan in a blitzkrieg less than three weeks before the US withdraws its final soldiers, prompting worries of a full-fledged militant takeover or another Afghan civil war.
Several countries are deploying soldiers as the Afghan government’s defence collapses and fears rise that an assault on Kabul is just days away.
As US-led international forces prepare to leave Afghanistan after 20 years of war, an Afghan government official announced on Friday that Kandahar, the southern commercial hub, was under Taliban control.
The hardline Islamist organisation also took Herat in the west, close the Iranian border. The loss of Kandahar was a major setback for the regime.
