As the Taliban marches through an Afghanistan newly free of an American military presence, U.S. officials are concerned about the safety of its embassy employees in Kabul, the nation’s capital. Plans to relocate some embassy staff are already in motion, according to multiple outlets, and American officials are negotiating with the Taliban in an attempt to avoid violence.
Three thousand U.S. troops are headed back to Afghanistan to help with the evacuation. Airlifts are possible.
The Wall Street Journal provides more details:
The U.S. is expected to pull thousands of personnel out of the U.S. Embassy, according to U.S. officials. About 5,000 civilians and military personnel are based at the embassy and at the nearby Hamid Karzai International Airport. The reductions are expected to include American diplomatic personnel and contractors, some Afghans, and nationals of third countries who provide security and other logistical support to the massive complex.
U.S. military aircraft will be used to assist in the evacuation. The U.S. Embassy isn’t expected to close immediately, according to U.S. officials.
CNN adds: “The US official said options are being weighed in real time but cautioned that the situation remains fluid. They indicated that decisions are likely to evolve in the days and weeks ahead given the rapidly changing situation on the ground.”
“As we’ve said all along, the increased tempo of the Taliban military engagements and the resulting increase in violence and instability across Afghanistan is of grave concern,” Ned Price, a State Department Spokesman, said. “We’ve been evaluating security situation, every day, to determine how best to keep those serving at our embassy safe.”
“Let me be very clear about this: The embassy remains open, and we plan to continue our diplomatic work in Afghanistan,” Price added.
The New York Times reports on the wider implications:
Five current and former officials described the mood inside the embassy as increasingly tense and worried, and diplomats at the State Department’s headquarters in Washington noted a sense of tangible depression at the specter of closing it, nearly 20 years after U.S. Marines reclaimed the burned-out building in December 2001.
Several people gloomily revived a comparison that all wanted to avoid: the fall of Saigon in 1975, when Americans were evacuated from the embassy from a rooftop by helicopter.
Earlier this week, the State Department urged Americans in Afghanistan not working for the government to leave the country immediately on commercial flights.
The American retreat comes as the Taliban has taken control of two-thirds of the country, a sign that the group is stronger than anticipated. They’re buoyed by equipment and weapons stolen from government forces and several jail breaks have added fighters to their ranks. Some experts fear that Kabul will be captured by the Taliban within the next three months.
The Associated Press reports that the Taliban captured Herat, Afghanistan’s third-largest city, on Thursday. The AP adds:
The seizure of Herat marks the biggest prize yet for the Taliban, who have taken 11 of Afghanistan’s 34 provincial capitals as part of a weeklong blitz. Taliban fighters rushed past the Great Mosque in the historic city — which dates to 500 BC and was once a spoil of Alexander the Great — and seized government buildings. Witnesses described hearing sporadic gunfire at one government building while the rest of the city fell silent under the insurgents’ control.
Reuters reports that Kandahar, Afghanistan’s second largest cities, is also on the verge of falling to the Taliban.
