Despite the Taliban’s swift progress, President Joe Biden reaffirmed his intention to remove US forces from Afghanistan on Saturday, promising to send more troops to evacuate civilians and warning the rebels not to jeopardize the operation.
Following meetings with his national security staff, Biden announced that a total of “about 5,000” US forces will now help coordinate evacuations and the conclusion of the US operation after 20 years on the ground, up from 3,000 previously.
Any action “that puts US people or our mission in jeopardy there will be met with a rapid and severe US military reaction,” he warned the Taliban.
After capturing the important northern holdout city of Mazar-i-Sharif, Taliban rebels resumed their swift march towards Kabul, according to Biden’s announcement.
President Ashraf Ghani of Afghanistan committed on Saturday not to let the “imposed war on people” cause any more fatalities, and claimed talks were underway to help end the conflict, but did not elaborate.
According to his spokesman, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who was part of the team that convened with Biden, spoke with Ghani by phone on Saturday.
