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Taliban forces have taken control of nearly 10 percent of Afghanistan in the last week alone, according to the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, and they now control 195 of the country’s 407 districts, while challenging 129 others.
Responding to the Taliban’s latest assessment on Friday, however, Kirby noted that “claiming territory or claiming land doesn’t mean you can maintain it or keep it over time.”
Instead, Kirby renewed the administration’s calls for Afghan security forces to fight the Taliban and protect the US-backed government in Kabul.
It is “time for the Afghan forces to show the capability and the capability that we know they have,” Kirby said. ” They are courageous. They are fighters. They have claimed many lives over the past year. And we know they are ready to defend their country. And we’ll help them do it. But really, it’s their job to do it now.
Kirby’s remarks echoed Biden’s White House speech Thursday, in which the Commander-in-Chief sought to justify the withdrawal in the face of bipartisan skepticism and escalating violence on the ground.
“It’s not about whether they have the capacity,” Biden said of Afghan government leaders and security forces. “They have the capacity. They have the strength. They have the equipment. The question is: will they do it?
In that speech, Biden also announced that the US military mission in Afghanistan would end on August 31 – ahead of the self-imposed deadline of September 11 – and denied that it was “inevitable” that the Taliban take full control of the country.
“The likelihood of there being a Taliban invading everything and owning the whole country is highly unlikely,” Biden said.
On Friday, the White House doubled down on its denial that a Taliban takeover in Afghanistan is inevitable. Ask his daily briefing if Biden had ignored US intelligence reports that the Afghan government could fall within months, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said the president “of course” respected community assessments intelligence.
“But the way the question was answered – and partly presented – was whether it was inevitable. And the president doesn’t think it’s inevitable, ”Psaki said, referring to Biden’s remarks on Thursday.
“The intelligence community never said that it was inevitable that the Taliban would take control of the country, and therefore its objective – or, what it was trying to convey – was that there was a responsibility,” he said. she declared. “And the responsibility is now in the hands of the Afghans. “
The press secretary went on to stress that the US government will continue to “equip and empower” the Afghan people, but the future of Afghanistan is now in their hands.
On Friday, Kirby conceded that “no one can say for sure” how the ongoing conflict will play out. But he agreed with the president to determine “that it is not a foregone conclusion. And no one should think that it is inevitable that the Taliban will quickly take over the whole country. “
The Afghan security forces are equipped with “modern weapons” and have “had the training and ability to be on the ground with US forces” over the past two decades, Kirby said. “They have the capacity. They have the capacity. Now it’s time to have that will.
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