Taliban gains spur US rethink on exit pace

KABUL, Afghanistan－The US military could slow down its withdrawal from Afghanistan due to the gains made by the Taliban insurgents, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said on Monday.

The signal from the Pentagon came as the militant group took control of a key district in Afghanistan's northern Kunduz Province on Monday and encircled the provincial capital, police said. The gains added to the group's recent battlefield victories while peace talks languish in a stalemate.

Fighting around Imam Sahib district began late on Sunday and by midday on Monday, the Taliban had overrun the district headquarters and were in control of the police headquarters, said Inamuddin Rahmani, provincial police spokesman.

Dozens of districts have fallen to the Taliban since May 1, when US and NATO troops began their final departure from Afghanistan. Like Imam Sahib district in northern Kunduz, their significance often lies in their proximity to roads and major cities.

Imam Sahib is strategically located near Afghanistan's northern border with Tajikistan, a key supply route from Central Asia.

However, Kirby stressed that US President Joe Biden's deadline of a full withdrawal by September remains in place, but added that the pace could be adjusted based on conditions. "The situation in Afghanistan changes as the Taliban continue to conduct these attacks and to raid district centers as well as the violence, which is still too high," he told reporters.

"If there needs to be changes made to the pace, or to the scope and scale of the retrograde, on any given day or in any given week, we want to maintain the flexibility to do that," he said.

'In real time'

"We're constantly taking a look at this, every single day: What's the situation on the ground, what capabilities do we have, what additional resources do we need to move out of Afghanistan and at what pace. All of these decisions are literally being made in real time," he added.

Pentagon officials said last week that the withdrawal, ordered by Biden in April after nearly two decades of the US fighting al-Qaida and helping government forces battle the Taliban, is around half completed.

At the time of Biden's order, around 2,500 US troops and 16,000 contractors, mostly US citizens, were in the country. The Pentagon has already turned over several of its key bases to government security forces, and has removed hundreds of planeloads of equipment.

Kirby said US forces continue to support Afghan troops in fighting the Taliban. "So long as we have the capability in Afghanistan, we will continue to provide assistance to Afghan forces. But as the retrograde gets closer to completion, those capabilities will wane and will no longer be available."

On Tuesday, the Afghan Defense Ministry said 14 Taliban militants were killed after the Afghan Air Force targeted a militants' hideout in the northern province of Samangan on Monday night.

The Taliban claim they have captured more than 40 suburban districts over the past month.

Talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban taking place in Qatar are at a stalemate. While Taliban leaders say they are ready to negotiate, observers familiar with the talks say the insurgent movement seems more anxious to chalk up military gains hoping to strengthen their negotiating position, The Associated Press reported.

Later this week, Biden will meet with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and Abdullah Abdullah, the head of the country's High Council for National Reconciliation.

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said on Monday that their conversation would also "continue to discuss how we can work together to ensure that Afghanistan never again becomes a safe haven for terrorist groups who pose a threat to the US homeland".

Agencies - Xinhua