Ghani says US is responsible for escalating crisis

President Ashraf Ghani on Monday blamed Afghanistan’s fast-deteriorating security situation on a “sudden” decision by the United States to withdraw its troops, but said his government has a plan to bring conditions under control within six months.

Taliban insurgents have moved in on three provincial capitals in the last few days, amid rapid advances nationwide since Washington said it planned a complete withdrawal of troops by September.

“The current situation is due to a sudden decision on the withdrawal of the international troops,” Ghani told the Afghan parliament in a speech.

“We have had an unexpected situation in the last three months.”

However, the Afghan government has a security plan to bring the situation under control within six months, he added, and the United States supported the plan.

The Taliban would not move towards peace unless the worsening security situation was curbed, Ghani said.

The Taliban rejected Ghani’s accusations. “Declarations of war, accusations and lies cannot prolong Ghani’s government’s life; his time has run out, God willing,” the movement’s spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, said on Twitter.

Meanwhile, the Biden administration on Monday expanded its efforts to evacuate at-risk Afghan citizens from Afghanistan as Taliban violence increases ahead of the US military pull-out at the end of the month.

Amid the unrelenting violence in Afghanistan by the Taliban, European Union has reiterated that if the terrorist group rises to power by force, it and other countries will not recognise the regime.

“If Taliban rise to power militarily, the EU will not recognise them,” said Thomas Nicholson, head of the European Union delegation to Afghanistan, as quoted by The Afghanistan Times.

Pak rejects ex-Canadian minister’s remark

Pakistan has objected to remarks made by former Canadian minister Chris Alexander, highlighting the South Asian country’s support to the Taliban in the Afghan conflict.

Taliban fighters waiting to cross the border from Pakistan to Afghanistan... anyone still denying that Pakistan is engaged in an ‘act of aggression’ against Afghanistan is complicit in proxy war and war crimes,” Alexander tweeted on Saturday.