The United States plans to reduce the number of employees at the American embassy in Kabul in the coming weeks, TASS reports, citing State Department spokesman Ned Price.
“We continue to reduce our civilian presence in Kabul amid the changing security situation. In the coming weeks, we expect to reduce [свое присутствие] in Afghanistan to the base diplomatic mission, ”he said at a briefing.
At the same time, Price noted that the American diplomatic mission in Kabul will continue its work. To ensure the export of diplomats to the Kabul airport, the Pentagon will deploy additional forces, said a spokesman for the State Department.
“To facilitate this evacuation, the Ministry of Defense [США] will temporarily send additional personnel to the Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, ”he said.
According to the press secretary of the Pentagon John Kirby, about 3 thousand additional US troops will be sent to Afghanistan in the next 48 hours.
Earlier on August 12, representatives of the Taliban extremist movement banned in Russia also announced the seizure of Afghanistan’s second largest city, Kandahar. In addition, the Taliban today took another significant Afghan city – Ghazni, the center of the province of the same name, located in the southwest of the country, on the way from Kabul to Kandahar.
Apart from Ghazni, since last Friday the Taliban have taken control of the capitals of nine provinces: Faizabad, Farah, Puli-Khumri, Sari-Pul, Shebergan, Aybak, Kunduz, Talukan and Zaranj. There are fierce battles for Mazar-i-Sharif in the north of the country. The Washington Post, citing sources in the US government, reported that the White House admits the fall of the Afghan capital, Kabul, within 90 days. According to the Taliban, the movement controls 90% of the country’s state border.
The military-political situation in Afghanistan began to deteriorate in May against the background of the withdrawal of American troops from the country at the direction of US President Joe Biden. They should leave Afghan territory, with the exception of the Kabul airport and the guards of diplomatic missions, by early September. The Afghan government also lost control over almost the entire section of the state border with Iran, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan.
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