Biden says pull-out is on despite Taliban’s march

US President insists Afghan forces should fight for themselves, even as insurgents make rapid progress, taking nine provinces

US President Joe Biden has ruled out any change in the American plan to withdraw all troops from Afghanistan despite the Taliban group increasingly gaining control over large parts of the wartorn country, saying Afghan leaders need to fight for themselves and their nation.

Biden in April ordered the withdrawal of all the US troops from Afghanistan by September 11 to end America’s longest war. The Pentagon’s task of removing service members and equipment out of the country is nearly complete and the US military mission is slated to end by August 31.

“No,” Biden told reporters on Tuesday at the White House when asked if his plan to withdraw troops could change at all, given Taliban’s lightning offensive in the north.

“Look, we spent over a trillion dollars over 20 years. We trained and equipped over 300,000 Afghan forces. Afghan leaders have to come together. We lost thousands - lost to death and injury - thousands of American personnel. They’ve got to fight for themselves, fight for their nation,” he said.

“I’ll insist we continue to keep the commitments we made of providing close air support, making sure that their air force functions and is operable, resupplying their forces with food and equipment, and paying all their salaries. But they’ve got to want to fight,” Biden said.

Earlier on Wednesday, the

WASHINGTON/KABUL:

Taliban captured the city of Faizabad in northern Afghanistan, a local MP told AFP, making it the ninth provincial capital to fall to the rampaging insurgents in less than a week.

Afghanistan’s President Ashraf Ghani flew to the besieged northern city of Mazar-i-sharif on Wednesday to rally the beleaguered government forces. But while Ghani is focusing on motivating his troops in Mazar-i-sharif, US intelligence said the Taliban could isolate the capital city of Kabul in 30 days and potentially take it over in 90 days.

Army chief replaced

Ghani has ordered Hibatullah Alizai to replace Wali Ahmadzai as the Afghan army chief of staff, according to an Afghan official who spoke to AP. Alizai was the commander of the Afghan army’s Special Operations Corps - the elite troops that, along with the air force, have been forced to do most of the fighting as regular forces have collapsed.

Finance minister quits

Afghanistan’s acting finance minister Khalid Payenda has resigned and left the country for the US after the Taliban captured key customs posts bleeding the administration of revenue. Payenda has “resigned and left the country because Afghanistan is grappling with declining revenues”, finance ministry spokesman Mohammad Rafi Tabe said.

Taliban seize helicopter gifted by India: Report

A video on social media suggests that a helicopter was seized by the Taliban at the Kunduz airbase, according to an ANI report. The chopper that was reportedly seized from Afghan forces may possibly have been one that was gifted by India to Afghanistan a few years ago as part of the capability building of the war-torn country. There was no confirmation of the development.