UN warned of insecurity amid Taliban offensive
The UN special envoy on Afghanistan warned yesterday that Taliban insurgents have taken more than 50 of 370 districts in the country since May and that increased conflict "means increased insecurity for many other countries, near and far".
The UN special envoy on Afghanistan warned yesterday that Taliban insurgents have taken more than 50 of 370 districts in the country since May and that increased conflict "means increased insecurity for many other countries, near and far".
"Those districts that have been taken surround provincial capitals, suggesting that the Taliban are positioning themselves to try and take these capitals once foreign forces are fully withdrawn," Deborah Lyons told the UN Security Council.
After 20 years, the United States has started a withdrawal of its remaining 2,500 troops in Afghanistan and aims to be completely out of the country by 11 September. Around 7,000 non-us forces from mainly Nato countries – along with Australia, New Zealand and Georgia – are also planning to leave by 11 September.
Lyons said the announcement earlier this year that foreign troops would withdraw sent a "seismic tremor" through Afghanistan, and that while this was expected, "its speed – with the majority of troops now already withdrawn – was not.
"All of the major trends – politics, security, the peace process, the economy, the humanitarian emergency, and of course Covid – all of these trends are negative or stagnate," Lyons told the 15-member Security Council. "The possible slide toward dire scenarios is undeniable."
Us-backed Afghan forces toppled the radical Islamist Taliban from power in late 2001 for refusing to hand over al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden after the 11 September 2001, attacks on the United States.
US president Joe Biden will meet Afghan president Ashraf Ghani and the chairman of Afghanistan's High Council for National Reconciliation, Abdullah Abdullah, at the White House on Friday amid the surge in fighting.
Talks in Qatar between the Taliban and Afghan government representatives on a political settlement have stalled.
"There is only one acceptable direction for Afghanistan ... away from the battlefield, and back to the negotiating table," Lyons said. "The United Nations Security Council, with the support of the regional countries, must do all it can to push the parties in that direction."
The warning comes as Taliban insurgents have conducted a wave of offensives in Afghanistan's north in recent days, moving beyond their southern strongholds as international forces withdraw.
Fierce fighting between the Taliban and Afghan government forces has taken place on the outskirts of three provincial capitals in the northern provinces of Faryab, Balkh and Kunduz provinces in recent days, officials said.
Local officials in Kunduz said the Taliban seized Shir Khan port, a commercial town on the border between Afghanistan and Tajikistan. Local officials and Taliban members said the Taliban had reached the outskirts of Mazar-i-sharif, Balkh's capital, on Monday evening before retreating.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said they had asked fighters to return from Mazar-i-sharif as their top leadership did not want to seize provinces until all US forces had left.