DefenceTalkAfghanistan’s Taliban government on Sunday rejected condemnation by Western nations over dozens of alleged “summary killings” of former security force personnel documented by rights groups since the Islamists returned to power. The US, other Western nations and allies on Saturday said they were “deeply concerned” by allegations by Human Rights Watch and others that point […]https://www.defencetalk.com/taliban-reject-claims-of-summary-killings-of-ex-security-forces-77538/

DefenceTalkTop US military leaders acknowledged Tuesday that the Taliban’s rapid takeover in Afghanistan took them by surprise and expressed concern the Islamic regime has not broken ties with Al-Qaeda. “We helped build a state, but we could not forge a nation,” Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing about the US […]

DefenceTalkUS Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) chief William Burns held a secret meeting in Kabul with Taliban co-founder Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the Washington Post reported on Tuesday, citing unnamed US officials. The Monday meeting, which if confirmed will have been the highest-level encounter between the Taliban and the Biden administration since the group’s return to […]

DefenceTalkAfghanistan has fallen to the Taliban, and U.S. troops now in the country are working to secure Hamid Karzai International Airport to enable the safe departure of U.S., allied and Afghan partners from the country. News reports show many Taliban in the streets, some toting American weapons. Other videos show Taliban patrolling the streets in […]

DefenceTalkThe Taliban declared the war in Afghanistan over after taking control of the presidential palace in Kabul while Western nations scrambled on Monday to evacuate their citizens amid chaos at the airport even as a tense calm gripped the capital. President Ashraf Ghani fled the country on Sunday as the militants entered the capital virtually […]

DefenceTalkThe United States said Thursday it was sending 3,000 troops to the international airport in Afghanistan’s capital Kabul immediately to evacuate US embassy staff as the Taliban makes rapid gains. “We are further reducing our civilian footprint in Kabul in light of the evolving security situation,” State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters. “This president […]

DefenceTalkThe failure of Afghan security forces to blunt the advance of the Taliban has left US officials deeply frustrated after spending billions to train and equip the country’s military for two decades. President Joe Biden and other officials have repeatedly called for Afghan leaders to unite and fashion a clear strategy amid mounting worries that […]

DefenceTalkThe Taliban seized two more Afghan cities Tuesday — including one just 200 kilometres (125 miles) from Kabul — as tens of thousands of people fled their homes in the north for the relative safety of the capital and other centres. But despite the bloodshed, and with eight provincial capitals now toppled in the insurgents’ […]

DefenceTalkTajikistan on Thursday checked the combat readiness of its armed forces in the biggest such exercise in the country’s history as the Taliban makes sweeping gains in neighboring Afghanistan. The 230,000 members of the Central Asian country’s security forces were alerted for the test at 2:00 a.m. local time (2300 GMT Wednesday) on the order […]

DefenceTalkThe US military could slow down its withdrawal from Afghanistan due to the gains made by the Taliban insurgents, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said Monday. Kirby stressed that 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 […]