Washingotn to evacuate its Afghan allies, the Taliban continue their advance

Published on : 07/15/2021 – 08:05

While the Taliban continue their lightning advance in Afghanistan, the United States announced, Wednesday, July 14, the imminent evacuation of the Afghans who collaborated with the American army.

“Flights from Afghanistan will begin the last week of July for candidates” who have applied for a special visa and their families, who should thus have left the country by August 31, when the US military wants complete its withdrawal, US authorities have said.

White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki praised these Afghans as “courageous individuals” and assured that the Biden administration wanted “to recognize the importance of the role they played” during the twenty years of presence of US forces in Afghanistan.

Nearly 80,000 Afghans to be evacuated in an emergency

The scheduled departure of the last foreign soldiers rekindled the concerns of these interpreters, drivers or subcontractors who assisted the American army. They fear reprisals from the Taliban about to take power in the country.

And in the face of their rapid progression, the fate of the approximately 18,000 Afghans who could benefit from the special visa program is urgent. With their families, the number of people to be evacuated could exceed 80,000, but only a fraction of potential applicants have already applied for a visa.

But time is running out. The deterioration of the security situation and fears that the Kabul airport will close are accelerating the evacuations. On Tuesday, in an emergency, the French embassy in Kabul called on all its nationals to leave Afghanistan, announcing that a special flight to Paris would be chartered on July 17. It will be the only flight of this kind for the entire French community in the country.

Taliban claim to control 85 % of the territory

On the ground, the Taliban are continuing their all-out offensive against Afghan forces. The insurgents claimed to control 85% of the territory of Afghanistan and to have taken Wednesday a border post which connects Afghanistan to the Pakistani province of Balochistan (southwest).

Since launching a large offensive against Afghan forces in early May, with the withdrawal of foreign forces, the insurgents have seized large parts of the country and key border posts with Iran, the Turkmenistan, Tajikistan.

Deprived of American air support, the Afghan forces have so far offered little resistance and essentially only control major axes and large cities, many of which are surrounded.

With AFP