U.S. military commander in Afghanistan warns of possible civil war
The top American military commander here expressed deep concern Tuesday that the country could slide into civil war and face “very hard times” unless its fractious civilian leadership unites and the haphazard array of armed groups joining the anti-Taliban fight are controlled and made “accountable” for their actions in battle.
The comments by Gen. Austin Scott Miller, who met with a group of journalists, came as Taliban forces continued their rapid advance across northern provinces and expanded into other rural regions. The insurgents also began circling closer to the capital city. In the past 48 hours, officials and Afghan media reported, Taliban fighters have overrun parts of two provinces just north and south of Kabul, and attacked security posts in a third that hugs the city’s western border.
Miller, who is overseeing the drawdown of U.S. forces here but said he would be replaced in its final stages, described the process as going well “from a military standpoint.” But he acknowledged that the looming departure had damaged the morale of Afghan defense forces, which he said were already stretched thin after months of heavy fighting, often with poor support.
“The security situation is not good,” Miller said citing the loss of territory, casualties and government forces withdrawing, while the Taliban have launched a “countrywide offensive” at the same time that peace talks are supposed to be taking place. By some expert estimates, Taliban forces now control as many as 140 of the country’s 370 districts and are active or influential in another 170. Both U.S. and Afghan military officials have given much lower estimates, but more districts continue to fall almost daily, either in violent clashes or peaceful surrenders, according to local officials and Afghan media reports.
In the past week, the Taliban seized two districts in Kapisa and Parwan provinces, both located along the major highway between Kabul and the north, local officials said. Fighters also took over a town in Wardak province that straddles the major highway leading south to Kandahar city. The group released video footage on social media showing its fighters strolling in the town and raising celebratory shouts.
Last week, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani met with President Joe Biden in Washington as U.S. troops withdraw, a process that Biden announced in April would be completed by Sept. 11. Biden told him that the U.S. would continue providing financial aid and support to the armed forces but that Afghans would have to “decide their own future.”