Former US president fears for girls in Afghanistan amid Taliban surge
Former US president George W Bush has criticised President Joe Biden over the withdrawal of American forces from Afghanistan, saying women and girls will bear the biggest burden as the Taliban seek to regain control of the country.
Mr Bush told German broadcaster Deutsche Welle he was afraid women and girls would “suffer unspeakable harm”.
“They [Afghan women] are going to be left behind to be slaughtered by these very brutal people and it breaks my heart,” he said.
Mr Bush said he thought the troop withdrawal, scheduled to be completed by September 11, was a mistake.
He was speaking before German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s visit to Washington, where she was due to meet Mr Biden on Thursday.
Germany has had troops in Afghanistan since shortly after the US invasion in 2001.
Mr Bush told Deutsche Welle he believed Mrs Merkel “feels the same way” about the US withdrawal.
In April, Mr Biden ordered the withdrawal of all US forces from Afghanistan by September 11, after plans were initially announced by his predecessor Donald Trump.
Nato forces, including German troops, are leaving too.
The pace of the US departure has left many Afghans worried that hard-won social gains such as the right for girls to go to school will be quashed by the Taliban, who are quickly seizing territory.
The hardliners were known for their brutal repression of women when they ruled much of Afghanistan during the late 1990s until the US-led invasion.
About 350 Afghans fled into Tajikistan on Wednesday to escape Taliban attacks, the Tajik news agency Khova reported.
The refugees, a majority of them girls, “fled from the Taliban to save their lives” and two babies died during the border crossing, it reported.
Meanwhile, Washington said thousands of interpreters and other Afghans who aided US and Nato forces would be taken out of the country beginning this month.
In what the White House has called Operation Allies Refuge, the interpreters and their families are likely to be taken first to American overseas military bases before resettling in the US or elsewhere.
Many are looking to leave the country owing to fears of retaliation by the Taliban, who are seeking to regain control of the country after the departure of foreign forces.
Some estimates say there are about 18,000 people who qualify for the resettlement operation.
That number could increase to as much as 100,000 after their families are included.
The news came as the US military pushed forward with the final steps of withdrawing from the country, and as the Taliban captured Spin Boldak, a border crossing on the main road between the southern Afghan city of Kandahar and Quetta in Pakistan.
Hours after the crossing was seized by the insurgents, an AFP reporter on the Pakistani side said about 150 Taliban fighters arrived on motorcycles, waving flags and demanding to be allowed to cross into Afghanistan.
Spin Boldak was the latest in a string of border crossings and
Afghan women are going to be left behind to be slaughtered by these very brutal people and it breaks my heart
GEORGE W BUSH
Former US president
dry ports to be seized by the Taliban in recent weeks as they look to choke off revenue needed by Kabul, while increasing their own funds.
In another sign that western governments are reassessing the situation, UK Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said his country was prepared to work with the Taliban if the group entered government.
“Whatever the government of the day is, provided it adheres to certain international norms, the UK government will engage with it,” he told The Daily Telegraph.
“All peace processes require you to come to terms with the enemy. Sometimes, that’s what it is.”