Ghani in urgent talks as Taliban close in on Kabul

KABUL – Afghanistan’s President Ashraf Ghani held urgent talks with local leaders and international partners on Saturday as Taliban fighters pushed closer to Kabul, capturing a town south of the capital that is one of the gateways to the city.

The United States and other countries rushed in troops to help evacuate their embassies after the fighters captured town after town as US and other foreign forces who have backed the government withdrew.

“As your president, my focus is on preventing further instability, violence, and displacement of my people,” Ghani said in a brief televised address, adding that he was consulting government, elders, politicians and international leaders.

He gave no sign of responding to a Taliban demand that he resign for any talks on a ceasefire and a political settlement, saying his priority remained the consolidation of the country’s security and defence forces.

“Serious measures are being taken in this regard,” he said, without elaborating.

He spoke soon after the insurgents, facing little resistance, took Pul-e-Alam, capital of Logar province and 70 km (40 miles) south of Kabul, according to a local provincial council member, who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity.

The gain of the city, a staging post for a potential assault on Kabul, comes a day after the militants took the country’s second- and third-biggest cities. The Taliban says it is close to capturing Maidan Shahr, another town close to Kabul on the main highway to the southern hub of Kandahar.

American troops have begun flying in to Kabul to help in the evacuation of embassy personnel and other civilians, a US official said on condition of anonymity.

The Pentagon has said two battalions of Marines and an infantry battalion will arrive in Kabul by Sunday evening, involving about 3,000 troops. An infantry brigade combat team will move to Kuwait to act as a quick reaction force for security in Kabul if needed.

Britain and several other Western nations are also sending troops as resistance from Afghan government forces crumbles and fears grow that an assault on Kabul could be just days away.

Italy will evacuate its embassy in Kabul if necessary, Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio said in a newspaper interview published on Saturday.

An Afghan government official confirmed on Friday that Kandahar, the biggest city in the south, was under Taliban control as US-led international forces complete their withdrawal after 20 years of war.

Kandahar’s loss was a heavy blow to the government. It is the heartland of the Taliban – ethnic Pashtun fighters who emerged in 1994 amid the chaos of civil war – and is close to the town of Spin Boldak, one of the two main entry points into Pakistan and a major source of tax revenues.