Team News Riveting
Amidst US President Joe Biden’s call to Afghanistan to defend its homeland, three more provincial capitals in the country fell into the hands of insurgents.
The Taliban seized three more provincial capitals in Afghanistan on Wednesday, putting nine of the Nation’s 34 in the insurgents’ hands after the US troop withdrawal from the country.
The fall of the capitals of Badakhshan and Baghlan provinces to the northeast and Farah province to the west had mounted pressure on the country’s central government to check the advance of Taliban. According to reports, Taliban are now controlling over 65 per cent of Afghanistan.
The development unfolding in Taliban has added urgency to the need to restart the long-stalled talks in Qatar that could end the fighting and move Afghanistan towards an inclusive interim administration. The insurgents have so far refused to return to the negotiating table.
Meanwhile, US President Joe Biden urged the Nation’s leaders to fight for their homeland. “Afghan leaders have to come together,” Biden told reporters at the White House, saying the Afghan troops outnumber the Taliban and must want to fight. “They’ve got to fight for themselves, fight for their nation.”
The US president said he does not regret his decision to withdraw, noting that Washington has spent more than $1 trillion over 20 years and lost thousands of troops. He said the United States continues to provide significant air support, food, equipment and salaries to Afghan forces.
In Kabul, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani said he was seeking help from regional militias he has squabbled with for years. He appealed to civilians to defend Afghanistan’s “democratic fabric”.
