Afghans more worried about bloodshed in Kabul than a Taliban takeover

Afghan president in talks with local and world leaders to discuss the situation in the country.

Afghanistan’s embattled President Ashraf Ghani is resolute in defending the capital Kabul but is “looking to the international community for help”. For his people, such a vague reassurance means heightening uncertainty and fear they are already living in.

In a televised address to the nation Saturday, Ghani said he was in talks with local and world leaders to discuss the situation in the country where Taliban are closing in on Kabul after making breakneck territorial gains — most in the (northern) region hostile to them — filling in the vacuum left by departing US and NATO troops.

The Taliban are in control of two-thirds of the war-torn country and they have been facing little resistance in their march to the capital. Their capture of Pul-e-Alam, the capital of Logar province, 70 km south of Kabul has given them a key staging post for a potential assault on Kabul.

Hundreds of people have fled from the fighting and are taking refuge in Kabul, a city of 4.6 million people, where the government is struggling to cope with the influxes. Thousands have flown away to different countries through the capital’s international airport. The US and other countries have rushed in troops to help evacuate their embassies and Afghan allies. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres fears Afghanistan is “spinning out of control”. The spectre looms of either a government rout or the country’s tumble into a civil war.

But says Ghani: “As your president, my focus is on preventing further instability, violence, and displacement of my people.” Not hinting at giving in to a Taliban demand that he resign for any talks on a ceasefire and a political settlement, he said “re-integration of the security and defence forces is our priority, and serious measures are being taken in this regard”.

The country’s second and third-largest cities have been captured by the Taliban. It will now only be Kabul to defend for the government forces who have melted away elsewhere. Media people and human rights defenders I have spoken to in Afghanistan say the situation in Kabul is tense but calm.

“President Joe Biden has set August 31 as deadline for fully withdrawing combat forces. Let’s see if Taliban decide to enter Kabul before or after that. If the Taliban face no resistance, it may not be so, but if they do, a lot of bloodletting of civilians is feared. We wish the transition is as peaceful as in Herat,” a journalist from Kabul said on anonymity.

“Logar province has been captured by the Taliban. Western Maidan Vardak province may also fall to them. Of Afghanistan’s major cities, the government still holds Mazar-i-Sharif in the north and Jalalabad, near the Pakistani border in the east, in addition to Kabul. Fighting rages in Mazar-i-Sharif though,” he said.

The civil society, politicians and government officials are living in anxiety about their future.

“Human rights and women rights defenders, media, politicians and government officials do have fears. But it depends on how the situation unfolds here. Taliban have not been as harsh recently as they have been before,” a woman rights activist said opting for not to be named.

In a tweet, Secunder Kermani, a BBC correspondent for Afghanistan said: “Ghani certainly not stepping down, talks of mobilising security forces vs Taliban but Govt’s position looks extremely fraught... many people [are] more worried about the prospect of bitter fighting in Kabul than an outright Taliban takeover (though they don’t support that either)”.

Waqar Mustafa is a Pakistan-based journalist and commentator.

• Asia