August should be decisive for whether the Kabul regime is able to stem the Taliban offensive which has intensified since the departure, in mid-July, of the chief of the American troops, General Austin Miller – thus acting. the end of twenty years of military aid from the United States. Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, who blamed the security degradation on August 2 “Abruptly withdrawal “ troops from Washington, nevertheless ensures that his country has the means to defend itself, contrary to the predictions of the international community.
The finding is however worrying. After encountering weak resistance in the countryside, the Taliban are now focusing their attention on major urban centers, encircling several provincial capitals, Lashkar Gah and Kandahar in the south, Herat in the west, Ghazni in the east, as well. than cities in the North. These cities remain under the control of the army, but the fall of one of them could cause a devastating domino effect for the power.
Customs taxes levied by the insurgents
The insurgents already have some successes to their credit. One of the two main border posts separating Afghanistan and Pakistan to the south, at Spin Boldak, is firmly in their hands. It marks their ability to keep strategic holdings and take advantage of them. Because, according to the Ministry of Finance in Kabul, they levy customs and trade taxes on products that pass through this border town, thereby reducing the income of the Afghan state. Between June and July, fourteen customs posts, with Iran, Pakistan, Turkmenistan and Tajikistan, were thus withdrawn from official authorities.
The United States, Great Britain and the UN denounced, in July, “War crimes atrocities” committed by the insurgents, especially in the Spin Boldak area, where beheadings were recorded. In addition, on Wednesday August 4, one of the spokespersons of the insurgent movement announced that they would increase the attacks against Afghan government officials, the day after an attack in Kabul targeting General Bismillah Khan, the Afghan Minister of Defense, appointed at the end of June and new strongman of the regime. These statements raise fears of slippages for the security of internationals still present in the country, in particular after the death, on July 30, of a guard at the offices of the UN political mission in Herat.
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