Afghanistan's current condition | Formation of caretaker government

 Taliban Announce Caretaker Government With Longtime Leaders in Top Positions

The Taliban announced a caretaker cabinet that includes many hard-line figures who held authority when the group last ruled Afghanistan in the 1990s (New York Times). The cabinet did not appear to include women, many members of minority communities, or former Afghan government officials (TOLOnews). Meanwhile, hundreds of Afghans—including a significant number of women—protested for women’s rights and against the Pakistani government, before the Taliban violently dispersed the crowd (Al Jazeera).   

September 8, 2021
Taliban Captures Last Provincial Capital in Afghanistan

The Taliban announced they captured the last provincial capital not under their control in Panjshir after several days of heavy fighting. The leader of the opposition forces vowed to continue fighting the Taliban (TOLOnews).

 

September 7, 2021
New Afghan Government Set to Be Announced

The Taliban said they will soon announce the formation of a new government in Afghanistan. A member of the group said that Mawlawi Hibatullah Akhundzada, the Taliban’s supreme commander, will lead the government (TOLOnews). Separately, Afghanistan’s neighbors have closed their borders to people attempting to flee the Taliban, preventing tens of thousands of people eligible to relocate to other countries from evacuating via land (Wall Street Journal). 

September 2, 2021
Biden Calls Afghanistan Evacuation a Success

In a speech about the end to the U.S. war in Afghanistan, Biden called the evacuation of Kabul an “extraordinary success” and said it marked the end of an era in which the United States used military force “to remake other countries.” He portrayed the United States’ options in Afghanistan as either escalation or withdrawal (New York Times). Separately, the United Nations announced that its humanitarian operations in Afghanistan will continue. Some eighteen million people, almost half of the country’s population, need humanitarian assistance, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said, and he called on UN member states to support ongoing humanitarian work in the country (UN News). Meanwhile, the Indian government announced that it met with a Taliban leader in Qatar to discuss travel between Afghanistan and India and concerns that Afghanistan could become a launchpad for terrorist attacks against India. It was New Delhi’s first public acknowledgement of a meeting with the Taliban (Hindu).

September 1, 2021
U.S. Completes Military Pullout From Afghanistan, Ending Twenty-Year War

The final U.S. military forces departed Afghanistan yesterday, finalizing a drawdown process that brought a twenty-year war to a close and left Afghanistan under the Taliban’s control (TOLOnews). With Kabul’s airport closed after the U.S. departure, intense diplomatic engagement is underway to facilitate its reopening. The Taliban have made public assurances that Afghans who wish to leave the country can do so, and the UN Security Council passed a resolution yesterday urging the group to facilitate safe passages (UN News). Surging prices and packed lines at banks underscored the potential for the country’s economic collapse as countries and international organizations weigh how to approach financial ties with a Taliban-led Afghanistan (Financial Times).

August 31, 2021

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