Badri 313 outfit of Taliban providing security at Kabul airport

Taliban-linked social media accounts claim that members of the group’s Badri 313 outfit are providing security at Kabul international airport. Badri 313 is a Special Forces wing of the Taliban’s army. 

It has been responsible for some of the group’s key battlefield successes and has also conducted complex “martyrdom” (suicide) operations.

Photos posted on Taliban-associated feeds purportedly show Badri 313 units in and around the airport in Kabul. It is not clear how many of the group’s men are there.

The Haqqani Network, which plays an integral role in the Taliban’s political and military command structure, has long advertised the operations carried out by its special forces in the “Badri Army.”

In February 2020, for instance, the Haqqani’s Manba Al Jihad media arm released a video entitled, “Badri Strike.” The production was posted online just weeks before the Trump administration entered into a withdrawal agreement with the Taliban in Doha.

“Badri Strike” contains clips of President Trump saying that “the American people are weary of war without victory.” Trump continued: “Nowhere is this more evident than with the war in Afghanistan, the longest war in American history, 17 years.” The video’s producers say America and its allies in Kabul have been defeated.

The video’s narrator states that whereas the US once declared the Taliban to be “terrorists,” it was forced to negotiate with the jihadists. The talks are portrayed as a clear victory for the Taliban’s Islamic Emirate, which the narrator holds up as an example for other Muslim groups around the world. The production also places the impending return of the Taliban’s Islamic Emirate in the context of Muslims’ quest to restore an Islamic caliphate to power. In other words, the Taliban was anticipating a complete victory in the months to come.

A key ideologue featured in “Badri Strike” is Ustadh Mohammad Yasir, a dual-hatted Taliban-Al Qaeda figure. Yasir reportedly died in 2012 under somewhat murky circumstances. 

He had been arrested by Pakistani forces several years before. Yasir was a key ideologue for al Qaeda’s recruitment efforts in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Yasir appeared in al Qaeda’s media, including an interview with As Sahab. Ayman al-Zawahiri honored Yasir in a talk released on the 18th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. Zawahiri recounted a meeting between Yasir and bin Laden in the Tora Bora Mountains in late 2001, during which the pair discussed the 9/11 hijackings.

The archival audio of Yasir included in “Badri Strike” is therefore telling. It demonstrates that the special forces wing of the Taliban is drawing from the same ideological well as al Qaeda. In the brief clip, Yasir explains the supposed virtues of martyrdom.

“This is the blessing of your sacrifices, blood and martyrs,” Yasir says in the clip included in “Badri Strike.” Yasir goes on: “Martyrs in every nation are like candles. It burns its own self, but lightens the darknesses, it burns its own self, but gives light to others. Similarly, if your martyrs have sacrificed and burnt their lives (for Allah SWT), they have also brightened the house of Islam.”

Much of “Badri Strike” is devoted to glorifying the team of jihadists responsible for the November 2018 attack on a G4S compound in Kabul. G4S is a British security and intelligence firm. “Badri Strike” documents the meticulous planning and training that went into the complicated suicide operation. A team of Badri 313 commandos received elite training in small arms beforehand. They infiltrated the compound after one of their comrades detonated a large vehicle bomb outside.

Taliban Enter Afghan Capital Kabul

Taliban entered Afghanistan's capital Kabul on Sunday and said they expected to take power within days, promising to moderate their earlier hard-line Islamist rule even as foreign diplomats and many locals tried to leave. 

Taliban fighters were reaching the capital "from all sides", a senior Afghan interior ministry official told Reuters. However, there were no reports of fighting.

The group was in talks with the Western-backed government for a peaceful surrender, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said. "Taliban fighters are to be on standby on all entrances of Kabul until a peaceful and satisfactory transfer of power is agreed," he said in a statement.

Ali Ahmad Jalali, a US-based academic and former Afghan Interior Minister, could be named head of an interim administration in Kabul, three diplomatic sources said, though it was unclear whether the Taliban had agreed.

Known during their past rule for keeping girls out of school and their hard-line practice of Islamic law, including punishments of amputation, stoning and hanging, the Taliban appear to be trying to project a more modern face.

Another spokesman Suhail Shaheen said the group would protect the rights of women, as well as freedoms for media workers and diplomats.

"We assure the people, particularly in the city of Kabul, that their properties, their lives are safe," Shaheen told the BBC, saying a transfer of power was expected in days.

The ease of the Taliban's advance, despite billions of dollars spent by the United States and others to build up local Afghan government forces, has stunned the world.

Just last week, a US intelligence estimate said Kabul could hold out for at least three months.

There was no immediate word on the situation from President Ashraf Ghani. A palace official said he was in emergency talks with US peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad and officials from the NATO transatlantic alliance.

Power would be handed over to a transitional administration, the government's acting interior minister, Abdul Sattar Mirzakawal, tweeted on the Tolo news channel. "There won't be an attack on the city, it is agreed that there will be a peaceful handover," he said without elaborating.

A tweet from the Afghan presidential palace account said firing had been heard at a number of points around Kabul but that security forces, in coordination with international partners, had control of the city.

Many of Kabul's streets were choked by cars and people either trying to rush home or reach the airport, residents said.

"Some people have left their keys in the car and have started walking to the airport," one resident told Reuters by phone. Another said: "People are all going home in fear of fighting."

Afghans had fled the provinces to enter Kabul in recent days, fearing a return to hard-line Islamist rule.

Early on Sunday, refugees from Taliban-controlled provinces were seen unloading belongings from taxis and families stood outside embassy gates, while the city's downtown was packed with people stocking up on supplies.

US officials said diplomats were being ferried by helicopters to the airport from its embassy in the fortified Wazir Akbar Khan district. More American troops were being sent to help in the evacuations after the Taliban's surge brought the Islamist group to Kabul in a matter of days.

"Core" US team members were working from the airport, a US official said, while a NATO official said several European Union staff had moved to a safer location in the capital.

Earlier on Sunday, Taliban captured the eastern city of Jalalabad without a fight, giving them control of one of the main highways into landlocked Afghanistan. They also took over the nearby Torkham border post with Pakistan, leaving Kabul airport the only way out of Afghanistan still in government hands.

"The governor has surrendered to Taliban," a Jalalabad-based Afghan official told Reuters. "Allowing passage to Taliban was the only way to save civilian lives."

After US-led forces withdrew the bulk of their remaining troops in the last month, Taliban campaign accelerated as the Afghan military's defences appeared to collapse.

President Joe Biden on Saturday authorized the deployment of 5,000 US troops to help evacuate citizens and ensure an "orderly and safe" drawdown of military personnel. A US official said that included 1,000 newly approved troops from the 82nd Airborne Division.

Taliban said its rapid gains showed it was popularly accepted by the Afghan people.

While innocent civilians and Afghan soldiers are dying, Biden has no regret

It is height of disgrace to humanity to read a statement of Joe Biden, saying he does not regret his decision to pull US forces out of Afghanistan amid reports of rising civilian casualties as the Taliban makes gains in the country.

On the contrary he said, "We spent over US$ one trillion over 20 years. We trained and equipped with modern equipment over 300,000 Afghan forces," Biden said at a news conference.

"And Afghan leaders have to come together. We lost to death and injury, thousands of American personnel. They’ve got to fight for themselves. Fight for their nation."

Biden vowed the US would keep its commitments to provide air support, resupply Afghan forces with food and equipment and pay their salaries. "But they’ve got to want to fight," Biden added.

Over the weekend, the Taliban seized a string of provincial capitals including the strategically and economically important city of Kunduz. The battlefield gains come as the US withdrawal from Afghanistan is largely done, with an official end date set by Biden of 31st August 2021.

Using so-called over-the-horizon forces, the US military in recent days has conducted some airstrikes in support of Afghan forces, Pentagon press secretary John Kirby confirmed, but declined to provide any specifics.

Moral of the story

Over the last two decades, US troops helped achieve their ‘undeclared’ objectives. Among these weeding out terrorists and ushering development in Afghanistan were on the lowest priority.  Now the same will be done by ‘operators’ who can work the best under the chaotic condition. The US president is not talking about security of Afghans, but the operators living under the disguise of Afghan soldiers.

Defense officials have not confirmed whether such airstrikes will continue after US troops are fully withdrawn as per the deadline.

Lawmakers and critics of Biden's decision to withdraw from Afghanistan have raised concerns over the possibility of a full Taliban takeover of the country and the chaos that will be created without American forces.

Administration officials also briefed senators on the situation behind closed doors and faced what Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell described as “tough” questions.

US envoy Zalmay Khalilzad warned the Taliban government that assumes power through use of force in Afghanistan will not be acknowledged by the international community.

Lately, Khalilzad traveled to Doha, Qatar, where Taliban has a political office, to help formulate a joint international response to the rapidly deteriorating situation in Afghanistan.

He will urge the Taliban to stop their military offensive and arrange a political settlement, which the State Department said “is the only path to stability and development in Afghanistan.”

Khalizad, who negotiated the peace deal brokered with the Taliban under the Trump administration, and other officials reportedly hope that the stern warning will encourage Taliban leaders to engage in peace talks with the Afghan government.

Taliban seizes control of 16 districts in Afghanistan

According to western media, Taliban continue to drive Afghan security forces from various districts throughout the country. Afghan forces are either surrendering or withdrawing from key administrative centers and security outposts. 

Taliban have taken over sixteen districts in 9 provinces, the latest being Kunduz City. Taliban currently controls 118 of Afghanistan’s 407 districts, while 190 districts are contested.

Afghan security forces have failed in halting the onslaught, particularly in the north, where Taliban control pace of movement and fighting. Afghan military and police units are either abandoning or surrendering. Afghan forces have only been able to retake control of three districts since May 1.

Taliban offensive in the north is especially troubling, as these provinces are home to many important Afghan government power brokers. There are growing fears that entire northern areas may be taken over of Taliban.

If northern areas go in to Taliban control, the Afghan government will be confined to south and east.

In Kunduz province, the Taliban “seized the [Kunduz City’s entrance before dispersing throughout its neighborhoods,” while fighting has been reported throughout the city, The New York Times reported.

Taliban overran Kunduz City in 2015 and 2016, and held it for a short period of time, before the US airpower and Special Forces played a key role in helping the Afghan military ejecting Taliban from the city. This weekend, Taliban also captured the district of Dasht-i-Archi in Kunduz province.

In one northern province, Takhar, the Taliban seized 8 districts – Baharak, Bangi, Chal, Hazar Somch, Khwaja Bahawuddin, Khuwaja Ghar, Namak Ab, and Yangi Qala – over the course of two days. Fighting has been reported outside of Taloqan, Takhar’s provincial capital, as well as Maimana, the capital of the troubled Faryab province.

In Takhar’s district of Baharak, “Around 110 members of police, army & members of local uprisings surrendered to Taliban” after being surrounded for three days, Bilal Sawary, an independent Afghan journalist reported.

Taliban executed the district head of the National Directorate of Security, which is hated by Taliban, and the “commander of local uprisings,” or tribal fighters that organize to fight the jihadists. In Khwaja Bahauddin district, Taliban overran “a large base and all its facilities,” according to Tariq Ghazniwal, a local Afghan journalist.

Also in northern Afghanistan, the Taliban took control of Chahar Bolak district in Balkh province, Dahan-e-Ghori in Baghlan province, Dara-e-Suf Bala in Samangan province, and Faizabad and Khanaqa in Jawzjan province.

In eastern Afghanistan, the Taliban seized Kharwar in Logar province, and in the southwest, the Taliban took Khash Rod in Nimroz.

Taliban have seized control of more than 50 districts since the US announced in mid-April to withdraw from Afghanistan by 11^th September 2021. The US military is no longer providing air support for Afghan forces as it focuses its efforts on withdrawing from the country.

Many of the districts that have been taken over by Taliban were previously contested, however, a handful of the districts were previously under Afghan government control (including three districts this weekend).

Hillary and Condoleezza express concerns over withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan

Two of the former US Secretaries of State, Hillary Clinton and Condoleezza Rice told members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee they're worried about President Biden's plan to withdraw all US troops from Afghanistan, with Rice suggesting the US may need to go back. 

The position puts two former Secretaries of State — one from the Obama and other from Bush administrations at odds with one of Biden's most significant foreign policy moves to date.

The new president has vowed to complete the withdrawal by 11th September 2021, the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attack. U.S. forces were sent to Afghanistan by Rice's then-boss, former President George W. Bush, to destroy havens used by the attack's organizers.

Clinton and Rice offered their reactions during a members-only Zoom call.

Rice's office did not want to comment on a private briefing. Clinton's spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.

"We had Secretaries Clinton and Condi Rice Zoom with the committee," one committee member told. "A little disagreement on Afghanistan, but they both agreed we're going to need to sustain a counterterrorism mission somehow outside of that country."

“Condi Rice was like, you know, we’re probably going to have to go back, amid a potential surge in terrorism,” the member said.

Rep. Mike McCaul (R-Texas), the top Republican on the committee, told "With the potential for an Islamic State, coupled with what they're going to do to our contractors in Yemen and Afghanistan is, sadly, it's going to be tragic there and we all see it coming."

Another member of the committee confirmed both Clinton and Rice raised concerns about the potential fallout from a quick removal of all US troops.

Both also expressed concerns about protecting US diplomats on the ground following the withdrawal and what the move will mean for the global war on terrorism.

Both Rice and Clinton supported military intervention in the Middle East following the attacks on 11th September 2001.

Rice, who was Bush's national security adviser at the time, helped craft the administration's wartime response.

Then Senator Clinton — considered by many as a military hawk — voted in 2002 to give Bush the authority to go to war, a vote she later said she regretted while on the presidential campaign trail.

Clinton also supported surging additional troops to Afghanistan in 2009.