Even the Taliban were surprised by the speed of their Afghan takeover, says US diplomat | world news


It wasn’t just the West that found the speed of the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan surprising – the militant group was also shocked, a US diplomat told Sky News.

Taliban fighters “have exceeded the capabilities of their commanders”, said Ross Wilson, speaking nearly a year after the group took control of Kabul on August 15, 2021.

And they succeeded because they “fought harder, longer and more determinedly than anyone else was prepared to do”.

Mr. Wilson, who served as the United States’ envoy to Afghanistan between 2020 and 2021, said it was clear that changes were happening as the seismic events of last summer approached.

“Since early June, the situation has gradually deteriorated,” he said, noting that around 70 to 80 district capitals have fallen under Taliban control.

Then, in early August, “the first of a series of provincial capitals fell… first near the Iranian border to the west, then, more alarmingly, the cascading array of provincial capitals north of Kabul “.

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Outside Afghanistan: Chaos in Kabul

The United States “did not foresee the fall of the Afghan government in mid-August or that it would be so quick,” Wilson said, while the rapid pace “also surprised the Taliban.”

This was demonstrated by the way “the Taliban forces behaved”, he continued, adding: “The assurance was given to us by the Taliban leadership that their fighters would not in fact advance into Kabul itself. , that they would stop.

“We believe for good reason that efforts were made to communicate this to the grassroots – and it didn’t happen.

“The fighters exceeded the capabilities of their commanders and I think the fact that the Taliban were surprised is demonstrated in their reaction after the fall of the government.

“It took them a long time – weeks – to figure out what to do next, how to organize themselves – and they still haven’t really organized themselves very effectively to run the government.”

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How is life under the Taliban?

The Taliban also don’t have much public support, Wilson said.

“They came to power not because much of the Afghan population wanted them to come to power, but because they fought harder, longer and more determinedly than anyone was ready. to do it.

“The flip side is that they don’t have much popular support to fall back on while they and the country are reeling from a host of issues.”

Read more from Sky News:
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There could also be nascent opposition, Wilson suggested.

“The generation that the United States and our European and other allies who were in Afghanistan invested in, for better or for worse, most of those people are still there.

“And I think they remain a potentially powerful force of influence as the country develops and evolves over the next few years.

“Which is not to say that I think the fall of the Taliban is imminent or that the Westernists, if you will, or those that we have invested in are about to take over, but I still think that these millions of people are or will be a force for change.”

malek

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