Taliban surge poses existential crisis for Afghan govt: SIGAR

The Afghan government faces an “existential crisis” after the Taliban doubled their attacks following the February 2020 US deal with the insurgents, a watchdog report said on Thursday.

The report said Taliban attacks on Afghan targets surged from 6,700 in the three months up to the Doha agreement to 13,242 in the September-november 2020 period.

Attacks have stayed above 10,000 in each subsequent threemonth period, according to the report by the US Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR).

The SIGAR report makes clear that the Doha agreement, instead of propelling Taliban-kabul talks, unleashed an offensive that caught government forces unprepared and increased the number of civilian deaths.

“The overall trend is clearly unfavourable to the Afghan government, which could face an existential crisis if it isn’t addressed and reversed,” said the inspector general, John Sopko.

Faced by a new Taliban offensive, it said, the Afghan government security force “appeared surprised and unready, and is now on its back foot,” the report said, “Particularly concerning was the speed and ease with which the Taliban seemingly wrested control of districts in Afghanistan’s northern provinces, once a bastion of anti-taliban sentiment.”

Separately, the Taliban took responsibility this week for the killing of comic Nazar Mohammad in the country’s south.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid acknowledged that two men, who had been captured in a video beating the comic were Taliban, and said they have been arrested and will be tried.

Turkey woos Biden with Kabul airport offer

Turkey is offering to protect Kabul’s strategic airport after US forces leave in what experts view as a high-risk bid to improve Ankara’s strained ties with Washington.

Keeping the air hub safe from advancing Taliban forces became a major issue after US President Joe Biden called an end to Washington’s 20-year involvement by ordering all troops out of Afghanistan by the end of next month. Hamid Karzai International Airport offers the safest route for embassy staff and humanitarian aid to reach the war-torn country. Its fall could leave Afghanistan largely cut off from the world.