WASHINGTON: Even as UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres today said the Afghanistan situation was “spinning out of control”, the US handed over a peace proposal to the Taliban and Afghan Government representatives.
Guterres called on the Taliban to immediately halt the offensive and asserted that seizing power through military force was a “losing proposition” and could only lead to a prolonged civil war and complete isolation of the war-torn nation.
US Special Representative for Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad said the Biden Administration had prepared a nine-point plan after consulting China, Pakistan, the EU, the UK, Uzbekistan and Qatar. The proposal calls for speeding up the peace process, reaching a political deal, permanent ceasefire, joint government and a mechanism for transferring power. Russian Special Envoy on Afghanistan Zamir Kabulov has also spoken on similar lines.
Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani met politicians, including those not aligned with him or the Taliban, and decided to form an authorised delegation for peace talks. The Taliban have not responded so far.
Fierce fighting continued in the eastern and northern parts of the country in the battle for two large cities — Mazar-e-Sharif and Jalalabad. The Taliban were 11 km away from Kabul after capturing another province.
The Afghan forces conducted air attacks in Nangarhar that reportedly destroyed Taliban dumps and motorcycles. The Taliban were also attacking the security belt at the entrance of Mazar-e-Sharif.
Taliban spokespersons have made themselves available to Indian media to convey that New Delhi’s military support to the Afghan government “is not acceptable”. The Taliban cautioned India against considering a military presence in Afghanistan.
Taliban spokespersons Suhail Shaheen and Zabihullah Mujahid, however, appreciated India’s help in national projects and said its embassies and diplomats would not be harmed. Germany on Saturday had a skeletal staff left while Norway and Denmark evacuated their diplomats. The US is in the process of deploying a huge military force to evacuate its people.
11 km from Kabul
Mazar-e-Sharif, 4th-largest city, has also fallen to Taliban. The insurgents have seized two more provinces and are barely 11 km south of Kabul.
Taliban warn India
Warning India, a Taliban spokesperson said, “They (India) have seen the fate of military presence of other countries in Afghanistan.”