'Sudden US troop withdrawal is worsening situation': Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani

Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani on August 2 said the country’s deteriorating situation in the face of the Taliban's advancements is due to the “sudden” decision of the United States to withdraw its troops. However, Ghani also added that his government had a plan to bring the situation under control within a period of six months. With the withdrawal of American troops, Taliban insurgents have moved into three provincial capitals in the last few days. Meanwhile, US President Joe Biden has already announced that American soldiers would leave the war-stricken country by September. 

In a speech to the Afghan parliament, Ghani said, “The current situation is due to a sudden decision on the withdrawal of the international troops...We have had an unexpected situation in the last three months."

He added that the Afghan government had a security plan in place to tackle the situation within six months and that the US supported the plan. According to Ghani, the extremist group would not have moved towards peace unless the worsening security situation was curbed. The Afghan government and the Taliban insurgents started peace talks last year in the Qatari capital of Doha. However, both sides failed to make any significant progress despite a few rounds of talks.  At a recent meeting in Doha between both delegations, the sides committed to ramping up the negotiations.

Ghani noted militants’ ties with terrorist groups

As per ANI, Ghani also noted that the militants had not broken ties with terrorist groups and had even ramped up attacks on women and civil society activists. He added that it was about time that the Taliban and the Afghan government accepted each other and moved towards a peaceful solution to the crisis. However, Ghani’s accusations have been dismissed by the insurgents. The movement’s spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid, said on Twitter, “Declarations of war, accusations and lies cannot prolong Ghani's government's life; his time has run out, God willing.”

Meanwhile, since capturing several new areas in Afghanistan, the Taliban have re-imposed repressive laws and other retrograde policies on women that defined its iron fist rule from 1996 to 2001 including enforcing their version of Islamic Sharia law. As per ANI, Frud Bezhan and Mustafa Sarwar wrote in Gandhara that the re-imposition of such repressive measures on Afghan women is the new brutal reality of tens of thousands of females who are presently living in areas, now captured by the Taliban. 

IMAGE: AP