Pentagon says sending 3,000 troops to Afghanistan is about ‘prudent preparation’
Pentagon says sending 3,000 troops to Afghanistan is about “prudent preparation”
From CNN’s Josiah Ryan
Pentagon press secretary John Kirby today defended the Pentagon’s decision to send 3,000 US troops into Afghanistan as “prudent preparation,” suggesting it is necessary to send so many in order to plan for the worst case scenario.
“This is about prudent preparation,” said Kirby, responding to a reporter’s question on why the US was sending such a “high” number of troops. “We want to make sure that we’ve got enough on hand to adapt to any contingencies.”
“Your question about the numbers being too high, we believe it is appropriate to the security situation that we see now and that we can anticipate possibly in the future,” he continued.
“The secretary believes the safety and security of our people, not just American troops, but our allies and partners and our State Department colleagues is of paramount concern,” Kirby added. “He is not going to add additional risk to that safe movement.”
Two of the infantry battalions headed to Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul are US Marines and one is US Army, Kirby said. All three battalions are coming from the Central Command area of responsibility, which is the part of the US military based in the Middle East.
UK sending military personnel to Afghanistan to help British nationals leave
From CNN’s Caitlin Hu
Additional UK military personnel will deploy to Afghanistan on a short-term basis to provide support to British nationals leaving the country, a joint news release from the Ministry of Defence and the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office said.
“The additional deployment of approximately 600 troops is in light of the increasing violence and rapidly deteriorating security environment in the country. In parallel, the number of staff working at the British Embassy in Kabul has been reduced to a core team focused on providing consular and visa services for those needing to rapidly leave the country,” the statement released Thursday said.
“The security of British nationals, British military personnel and former Afghan staff is our first priority. We must do everything we can to ensure their safety,” UK Defence Secretary Ben Wallace added.
Biden signed off on order to send US troops to Afghanistan
From CNN’s Pamela Brown and Jeff Zeleny
President Biden signed off on the order today to send US troops to Afghanistan, following a meeting last night at the White House, where he tasked his top national security advisers to come up with a plan to present to him this morning, a White House official tells CNN.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan briefed Biden this morning. He gave the order at that time, the official said.
The President did not attend the meetings today, as CNN reported, but the White House is trying to make clear Biden is engaged on this issue and “monitoring closely.”
US sending in more troops into Afghanistan than they initially had at the start of withdrawal
From CNN’s Nick Patton Walsh / Written by CNN’s Maureen Chowdhury
By sending in 3,000 additional troops into Afghanistan to assist with the departure of diplomats and possible evacuations, the US now will have more troops in the country than what they initially had when they began withdrawal, CNN’s Nick Patton Walsh reported Thursday.
“So, we’re into this extraordinary two- to three-week period. Because they will leave the end of August as part of the plan in which the Americans can be sending in large numbers of troops, obviously with air cover and enablers to keep themselves safe. So essentially establishing a military presence in Kabul,” Patton Walsh told CNN’s Julia Chatterly.
He continued, “It will doubtless have an impact on some of the nearby buildings in areas, providing a degree of security blanket for many of the important parts of Kabul. And frankly, a significant warning sign for the Taliban to stay back from the capital. Not that at this stage, they look like they’re moving close to it that fast. But you then have a situation, two to three weeks down the line, when the US has pulled out its civilian staff, has presumably got out most of the people it wants to see out as part of its’ special immigrant visa program, for those who worked with the Americans. And will then have to… leave again. So that is an extraordinary decision to make and would likely be an extraordinary visual, frankly, when it comes down the road at the end of the month.”
Patton Walsh also elaborated on the stunning ground the Taliban was able to gain, now controlling 12 provincial capitals, including the country’s third largest city Herat and also the city of Ghazni.
“The situation is frankly dire. In one week we’ve seen at least a third of Kabul’s main cities falling to the Taliban. Nobody thought the advance would be this fast,” he said.
EU condemns “increasing” human rights violations in Taliban-controlled areas of Afghanistan
From CNN’s Lauren Kent
The European Union has condemned “increasing violations of International Humanitarian Law (IHL) and human rights” in Taliban-controlled areas of Afghanistan, according to a statement from EU High Representative Josep Borrell released Thursday.
“The Taliban’s ongoing military offensive is in direct contradiction to their stated commitment to a negotiated settlement of the conflict and the Doha peace process,” Borrell said.
“The EU calls on the Taliban to immediately resume substantive, regular and structured talks and also calls for an immediate halt of the ongoing violence and for a comprehensive, permanent ceasefire. These continued attacks are causing unacceptable suffering to Afghan citizens and are increasing the number of internally displaced and those leaving Afghanistan in search of safety.”
Borrell added that the EU aims to continue to support the Afghan people.
“However, support will be conditioned on a peaceful and inclusive settlement and respect for the fundamental rights of all Afghans, including women, youth and minorities,” Borrell added. “Otherwise, if power is taken by force and an Islamic Emirate re-established, the Taliban would face non-recognition, isolation, lack of international support and the prospect of continued conflict and protracted instability in Afghanistan.”
Pentagon says new mission does not impact end of August drawdown deadline
From CNN’s Ellie Kaufman
Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby said the Defense Department is “aiming to facilitate the reduction of these civilian personnel by August 31,” to line up with the end of August US troop withdrawal deadline set by President Biden.
He added, however, that he could not “speculate about what the footprint’s going to look like post August 31.”
“Our job here now with this additional plus up is to help facilitate the safe movement of civilian personnel out of Afghanistan, and the President has been very clear that he wants that reduction complete by the end of August. That’s what we’re focused on,” Kirby said during a news conference at the Pentagon on Thursday.
Pentagon on sending troops into Afghanistan: “This is a very narrowly defined, temporary mission”
From CNN’s Maureen Chowdhury
Pentagon press secretary John Kirby defended the US’ decision to send in more troops into Afghanistan to assist with the departure of diplomats and any possible evacuations, describing the mission as “very temporary.”
“This is a very temporary mission for a very specific purpose, that’s a big difference than saying you’re deploying for eight, nine, 12 months, you know, forces to stabilize and secure Afghanistan, which we’ve been doing for the last 20 years. This is a very narrowly defined, temporary mission,” Kirby told reporters.
Kirby noted that there are “no plans, right now, for additional forces” to be sent in. The official went on to describe why the decision to send more troops was made:
“There wasn’t one precipitating event in the last couple of days that led the President and the secretary to make this decision. It’s a confluence of events. As, I’ve been saying now for several weeks, we have been watching very closely with concern the security situation on the ground. And far better to be prudent and responsible and watching the trends to make the best decisions you can for safety and security of our people than to wait until it’s too late. We believe this is not only the right thing to do, but it’s the right time to do it,” he said.
Kirby added that he would not speculate on the “future of Kabul.”
Following this mission, Kirby said, he anticipates having “less than 1,000 US troops on the ground to support the diplomatic presence in Kabul, which we all agree we want to still be able to have.”
Concern grows for Afghan civilians, particularly women and girls
From CNN’s Ivana Kottasová, Tim Lister, Nick Paton Walsh, Saleem Mehsud, Clarissa Ward and Hannah Ritchie
As Taliban militants sweep across Afghanistan, concerns are growing for the toll on the country’s civilians, particularly women and girls.
Wazhma Frogh, the founder of Women and Peace Studies Organization and a member of Afghanistan High Peace Council, told CNN’s Becky Anderson on Wednesday that more than 60,000 families who have fled the violence elsewhere in Afghanistan are now living on the streets of Kabul.
“These are families with small children, 2-year, 3-year, 4-year old who are sleeping on the streets … these are families who are farmers, this is the time of harvest in Afghanistan. They have lost all that,” she said.
The United Nations has warned that the humanitarian situation in Afghanistan has deteriorated significantly in recent weeks. Nearly 390,000 people have been displaced since the beginning of 2021 due to conflict across the country, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said during a daily briefing on Wednesday.
UN humanitarian agencies said there has been a huge spike in people leaving their homes since May and that 5,800 people fled to Kabul between July 1 and Aug. 5.
The UN said that they have received food, water, household items and sanitation support, and that while most of them are hosted by friends and family, a growing number of people are staying in the open.
“The stories that we hear from these people who are right now on the streets of Kabul, we hear that the Afghan government has given them space to come to the mosques, inside the mosques at least, because [of] this hot weather,” Frogh added.
She said the situation is particularly worrying for women and girls, adding that one woman she spoke to in the north of the country described how women were being forcibly taken away from their communities amid the fighting.
“Tons of Afghan girls right now, they have no future, just thinking about no school or even survival right now,” she said.
Read more about the situation on the ground here.
These are the 12 provincial capitals in Afghanistan now under Taliban control
The Taliban has been claiming territory across Afghanistan this week after the Biden administration began withdrawing troops.
Twelve provincial capitals in Afghanistan have now fallen to the Taliban. This is more than a third of the country’s 34 provinces.
The list includes:
- Herat
- Kunduz
- Ghazni
- Puli Khumri
- Taloqan
- Sheberghan
- Sar-e Pol
- Zaranj
- Faizabad
- Farah
- Aybak
- Qala-i-Naw
Read more about the significance of these territories here.
Source: http://rss.cnn.com/~r/rss/cnn_topstories/~3/HgeaaggwdIs/h_02e0eb397b003b91b7d1fdda368aad72
