Afghanistan: US report confirms lightning Taliban advance
A man with a Taliban flag on the Afghan side of the border with Pakistan near the town of Chaman, July 17, 2021. Banaras KHAN AFP
Text by: RFI Follow
2 min
By the end of August 2021, only a handful of American troops will remain on Afghan soil.
The Taliban are taking advantage of this and they are making progress day by day.
This is the conclusion of a report by the General Secretariat in charge of the reconstruction of Afghanistan submitted to the US Congress on Thursday, July 29.
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To date, the Taliban control half of Afghanistan's 400 districts, much of the highways and more than half a dozen strategic border posts.
In a matter of weeks, they conquered several provinces in the north of the country, including areas deemed hostile to the insurgency.
Taliban focus on Afghan army
Civil war is very close to us, according to the NATO command in Afghanistan.
The report highlights
the Taliban's two-tier strategy.
In February 2020, when the insurgents signed the Cessation of Hostilities Agreement with the United States, they pledged to no longer enter into armed conflict with American soldiers.
But in return, they swooped down on the Afghan forces, with more than 13,000 skirmishes recorded over the whole of 2020, an increase of 30% compared to 2019.
How many Afghan soldiers killed?
Impossible to say, the government of Kabul does not communicate on this subject.
But we know that civilian losses remain at a very high level again.
At least 4,200 people dead or injured since the start of 2021.
►Also read: International report - In Afghanistan, popular mobilization against the Taliban
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Afghanistan
United States
Taliban