As the Taliban continue to seize cities in Afghanistan, United States President Joe Biden on Tuesday said that Afghan leaders have to come together and fight for their country, Reuters reported.
Clashes between the Taliban and Afghan forces have escalated as foreign troops prepare to withdraw from the country by the end of August. More than 1,000 people have been killed in Afghanistan in the last month, the BBC reported, citing the United Nations.
At a media briefing on Tuesday, Biden said he did not have any regrets about pulling American troops out of Afghanistan.
“Look, we spent over a trillion dollars over 20 years,” he said, according to PTI. “We trained and equipped over 3,00,000 Afghan forces. We lost thousands – lost to death and injury – thousands of American personnel.”
Biden added: “I’ll insist we continue to keep the commitments we made of providing close air support, making sure that their [Afghanistan’s] air force functions and is operable, resupplying their forces with food and equipment, and paying all their salaries. But they’ve got to want to fight. They have outnumbered the Taliban.”
On Tuesday, the Taliban took control of Pul-e-Khumri, the capital of Baghlan province in Afghanistan’s northern region, Reuters reported. It was the seventh provincial capital to be seized by the Taliban in nearly a week. The group now controls 65% of Afghanistan.
Unidentified US officials told The Washington Post that the Taliban might seize Afghanistan’s capital Kabul within three months. Others estimated that this could happen even sooner – just within a month.
Also read: Who is responsible for Afghanistan’s tragedy? Is it Russia, US or Pakistan?
Meanwhile on Tuesday, India advised its citizens in Afghanistan to make immediate arrangements to leave the country in view of the deteriorating security situation.
India had also arranged a special flight for its citizens to travel from Mazar-e-Sharif city in Afghanistan to Delhi. Staff member from India’s consulate in the city were also reportedly evacuated.
In an advisory, the Indian embassy in Afghanistan also told companies to immediately withdraw their employees from worksites in the country before air travel services are discontinued.
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