Speed of Taliban advance stuns countries as US scrambles to airlift embassy staff

The Indian side has been prepared for all contingencies and eventualities, and the authorities in New Delhi were fighting on Saturday to finalize the plans to evacuate Indian diplomats and Kabul citizens.

A few more than a month ago, the president of the United States, Joe Biden, told reporters that there was “zero” possibilities of a parallel between the USA chaotic withdrawal of Saigon at the end of the Vietnam War in 1975 and the reduction of Kabul as part of a deal. With the Taliban.

“The Taliban are not the … Vietnamese Army of the North. They are not remote comparable in terms of capacity. There will be no circumstance in which they saw that people get up from the roof of the [USA Embassy.] … Afghanistan. It is not at all comparable, “Biden said during an interaction of the means on July 8.

The President of the Joint Sets of the United States, Gen Mark Milley, had also rejected comparisons at Saigon’s departure. Milley said he did not “saw Saigon 1975 in Afghanistan,” and that the “Taliban are simply not the North Vietnamese army”.

But as the video images emerged on Saturday of the US military helicopters that fly to Sortie after Sortie from the roof of the United States Embassy in Kabul, phase of diplomats and officials to the city airport, since The sound of sporadic shots reverberated through the capital, the images were strangely similar to the desperate military helicopter flights that led US officials and citizens of South Vietnamese from the roof of US mission in Saigon to naval ships near The shore of Vietnam.

Even more erroneously, the same helicopter was involved in both airlines: El Chinook, although those currently used in Kabul are a more modern version. In 1975, the Embassy of the United States had become the last refuge for the scores of citizens of South Vietnamese who feared the persecution at the hands of the victorious Vietnamese forces of the North. In Kabul, there was no refuge so safe for thousands of Afghans who have worked with US forces such as translators, guides and assistants, and now they fear being attacked by the Taliban.

The Biden Administration has already faced the criticisms of US lawmakers. UU For the way of departure from Afghanistan, with some drawing parallels to Saigon’s presence scenes more than four decades ago after Washington announced that it would deploy it 3,000 troops to provide security for the removal of Kabul.

“The decisions of the President of Biden have hurt us at a sequel even worse for Saigon’s humiliating fall in 1975,” said the AFP, which leads Republican Senator Mitch McConnell.

Mike Rogers, the Republican Ranking Member of the Armed Services Committee of the US House. UU said in a statement on August 12 that Americans are “are seeing those who develop the Saigon Moment of President Biden. He added: “Our allies are observing Afghanistan, rapidly deteriorating and President Biden still affirms that he does not regret his unconditional retreat. It is not mistaken, the consequences of random withdrawal from President Biden will be for decades. “

The speed of the progress of the Taliban, which is captured about 20 of the 34 provincial capitals of Afghanistan during last week, many of them without fighting, and the march to the capital, this weekend was against the evaluations of Most countries. According to an Indian evaluation carried out last month, the Taliban were expected to change their strategy only at the end of August, when all US forces would have been taken out, and move towards key urban centers after assuming large stripes of rural areas.

The Indian side has been prepared for all contingencies and eventualities, and the authorities in New Delhi were fighting on Saturday to finalize the plans to evacuate Indian diplomats and Kabul citizens. The Government had recently informed Parliament that there were 1,500 Indians in Afghanistan, but officials said that this figure had dropped to a few hundred people that many people who worked on development projects had already been sent or returned on their own.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *