Capital hit by blackout as insurgent fighters reach outskirts and western nations race to evacuate citizens
A reminder that the US has been in Afghanistan for 20 years. Biden had vowed to be out by 11 September this year, (the 20-year anniversary of the 9/11 attacks).
In a statement on Saturday justifying sticking to that pledge, Biden pointed out that the US has spent almost $1tn dollars in the country in that period, and trained over 30,000 Afghan security forces.
Here is some insight on what the Taliban’s plans may be, from the New York Times. I will try to bring you the best expert estimates we can find on how long it is expected to take for the US complete evacuations:
The senior US official said Zalmay Khalilzad, the chief American negotiator with the Taliban in peace talks in Doha, had asked the extremist group to not enter Kabul until the United States concludes the evacuation mission. Taliban officials have countered by asking that the US cease airstrikes against its fighters who are rampaging across Afghanistan, said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the high-level negotiations.
