On Saturday, United States President Joe Biden doubled down his decision to withdraw the US forces from Afghanistan despite the Taliban's rapid advances and said that the US would send more troops to evacuate the civilians.
Biden, after consulting with the US security team, said that approximately 5,000 troops would be sent to organize the evacuation and warned the Taliban not to put US military troops at risk.
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“Based on the recommendations of our diplomatic, military, and intelligence teams, I have authorized the deployment of approximately 5,000 US troops to make sure we can have an orderly and safe drawdown of US personnel and other allied personnel and an orderly and safe evacuation of Afghans who helped our troops during our mission and those at special risk from the Taliban advance,” Biden said as per news agency Xinhua.
Biden released the announcement after the terrorist group seized the main northern holdout city of Mazar-i-Sharif and have continued their march toward the Afghanistan capital Kabul.
Joe Biden said that Blinken was expected to engage with key regional stakeholders on escalating the Taliban march on Kabul. Earlier, the US Central Command has said that more American military troops had arrived at Kabul and they would ensure safe and fast evacuation of American Embassy employees and those Afghan civilians who have worked for the US.
Biden further laid some blames at the feet of Former US President Donald Trump and said, “When I came to office, I inherited a deal cut by my predecessor... that left the Taliban in the strongest position militarily since 2001 and imposed a May 1, 2021, deadline on US forces.”
On Sunday, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid claimed that the militants took control of most parts of Jalalabad, capital of Nangarhar province, some 120 km east of Kabul, reports Xinhua news agency.
He said the militants were also trying to seize control of the governor's office and the provincial police headquarters in Jalalabad.
Jalalabad's collapse came after the fall of Asadabad city, capital of Kunar province, and Sharan, the capital of Paktika province, on Saturday.
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Meanwhile, “I faced a choice – follow through on the deal, with a brief extension to get our forces and our allies' forces out safely, or ramp up our presence and send more American troops to fight once again in another country's civil conflict,” Biden added.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, spoke to Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani telephonically, said his spokesman Ned Price. The spokesman further said, “They discussed the urgency of ongoing diplomatic and political efforts to reduce the violence.”