Given the rapid advance of the Taliban, the situation of the people in Afghanistan is becoming increasingly desperate. “We are facing a humanitarian catastrophe,” warned a spokeswoman for the UN refugee agency UNHCR. Women and children in particular would flee the advancing Taliban. The organization appealed to Afghanistan’s neighbors to keep the borders open to those seeking protection. Without a way to get to safety, the lives of countless civilians are in danger.
“The camps are overcrowded, children are sleeping outside. Families are fighting over food,” is how international aid workers describe the hourly worsening situation in Afghanistan. 400,000 people have already been displaced since the beginning of the year.
The conquest of the radical Islamist Taliban is picking up the pace. In addition to Kandahar and thus the country’s second largest city, the Islamists yesterday took control of several other provincial capitals – including Pul-i-Alam, which is only around 70 kilometers from the capital Kabul. US secret services expect that Kabul could fall in a few days.
- Video: ORF correspondent Inka Pieh and Johannes Marlovits from the ZIB foreign editorial team assess the situation in Afghanistan.
While NATO was discussing further evacuations from war zones in a special session yesterday, the US was also preparing to withdraw its embassy staff. They are relocating 3,000 marines to the Afghan metropolis to secure the withdrawal. Great Britain also wants to get its compatriots and Afghan interpreters out of the country quickly. To make this possible, 600 soldiers will be sent to Afghanistan, said British Defense Minister Ben Wallace. According to his assessment, Afghanistan is facing civil war. The West must understand that the Taliban are not a unit, but a reservoir for numerous competing interests, said Wallace.
“US withdrawal is a mistake”
Wallace warned against a return of the Al-Qaeda terrorist network to Afghanistan. The withdrawal of western troops came at the wrong time, he said. “Al Qaeda will likely be back.” He blames the United States, but above all the former US President Donald Trump. His agreement with the Taliban on the withdrawal was a mistake, said the Briton. A mood of alarm is also spreading in Russia: Moscow is primarily concerned that the conflict could spread to the neighboring ex-Soviet republic of Tajikistan in Central Asia and other countries. “What is happening in Afghanistan must not encroach on the territory of our allies,” Lavrov warned.
