The Pentagon is moving thousands of Marines into position to prepare for a possible evacuation of the US embassy in Afghanistan as the Taliban make rapid gains across the country.
The Department of Defence is preparing to possibly evacuate the US embassy and US citizens in the capital of Kabul as the Biden administration considers the possibility that capital could fall within 30 days, administration and military officials have said, according to The New York Times.
The Taliban’s unexpectedly fast gains have led to the Defence Department speeding up its plans to get Americans out of Afghanistan.
Officials say a possible evacuation would involve the forceful use of US military force to protect people as they’re taken to Hamid Karzai International Airport where military transport planes would be waiting.
Two US officials told The New York Times that American negotiators are trying to get assurances from the Taliban that they wouldn’t attack the US embassy if they take over Kabul.
On Thursday, the embassy sent several alerts telling US citizens in the country to “leave Afghanistan immediately using available commercial flight options”.
Both administration and military officials say the fall of the capital can be prevented if the Afghan security forces can find the resolve to put up more of a fight. Afghan commandos have continued to fight in some areas, but several northern provincial capitals have mostly been left to be taken by the Taliban.
The Taliban took over the city of Ghazni on Thursday. Around 90 miles south of Kabul, the Taliban could use the city as a base to attack the capital after their gains across the north of the country. The Taliban also made significant progress in the country second-largest city of Kandahar after starting their insurgency in the city in the 1990s.
Taliban fighters also entered the city of Herat in western Afghanistan, close to the border with Iran.
A Biden administration official told The New York Times that the Taliban might soon take the economically important city of Mazar-i-Sharif, and added that the fall of that city along with the overtaking of Kandahar, which is on the precipice of collapse, could lead to the end of the Afghan government by September.
Another official said White House staff felt a mix of alarm and resignation at the rapid gains of the Taliban and at the possible dire future for the country. The official said there has been constant video calls this week about the state of the conflict.
Hundreds of Marines are already on the ground of the embassy complex in Kabul and are responsible for evacuating the embassy, which has a staff of 4.000 – including 1.400 Americans.
The Pentagon is also moving 2.000 Marines closer to the air route over western Pakistan, from where it could begin to evacuate the embassy within a day of receiving orders to take action, according to officials.
To prepare for the possibility that the evacuation becomes a battle with the Taliban, thousands of Marines have been started a training exercise that can be changed into an evacuation if that becomes necessary.
Defence Department Press Secretary John Kirby said the US still has the capacity to conduct airstrikes and that it would be sending 3,000 troops into the nation.
“The drawdown itself is still on track to be complete by August 31st,” he said. “Our job here now is to help facilitate the same movement of civilian personnel out of Afghanistan.”
Mr Kirby said these new troops will have some defence equipment.
“They have some defence capabilities,” he said. “They will obviously have the capabilities they need to defend themselves.”
Mr Kirby said the mission was “a very narrowly defined” and temporary mission and estimated there would be fewer than 1,000 troops.
“Nobody’s Afghanistan,” Mr Kirby said.
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