Several shocking images have emerged from Afghanistan showing a desperate population trying to flee Kabul which was taken over by the Taliban on August 15. There is one picture that shows over 600 Afghans crammed into one US Air Force C-17 Globemaster II cargo jet. This photograph conveys the sense of urgency and desperation among people like no other.

Videos circulating on social media show a plane packed way over capacity, head to Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar. There are also heartbreaking videos doing the rounds on social media in which Afghan citizens can be seen trying to hold on to departing planes, following which some of them plunged to death.

Inside Reach 871, A US C-17 Packed With 640 People Trying to Escape the Taliban | @TaraCopp and @MarcusReports https://t.co/lf3LajxzzX pic.twitter.com/gLiAwD6k9T

— Defense One (@DefenseOne) August 16, 2021

US response

With the extremely tense situation on the ground, 9,000 US troops have been redeployed in Kabul to ensure the safe evacuation of diplomats and foreign dignitaries. Many analysts had estimated that Taliban would take up to 90 days to seize Kabul but they did it in less than 10 days.

In first public comments about the crisis unfolding in Afghanistan, US President Joe Biden was quick to reject the blame for the events in Kabul. He, however, admitted that the Taliban made advances faster than the administration had anticipated.

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“The truth is this did unfold more quickly than we had anticipated,” said Biden and insisted that American troops cannot and should not be fighting the war, and dying in a war that Afghan forces are not willing to fight for themselves.

“We gave them every chance to determine their own future. What we could not provide them was the will to fight for that future," he added.

How Taliban made the quick move?

The success of the Taliban’s efforts in Afghanistan can be traced back to the Doha Agreement signed in 2020. The agreement was finalised in Qatar by the Taliban and the Donald Trump government, which called for complete troop withdrawal by August 31, 2021, and a reduced presence of allied forces.

This led to a shift in morale. US officials and Afghan military personnel viewed the agreement as a sign of the Taliban’s victory over the government.

Talking to the Washington Post, an Afghan special forces officer said “The day the deal was signed we saw the change. Everyone was just looking out for himself. It was like

“They saw that document as the end,” he added.

Aftermath of Doha Agreement

After the Doha Agreement, the Afghan military declined quickly from within due to a number of factors. Many officers of the Afghan military claimed they did not receive salaries for months while the US was preparing for its complete withdrawal.

Thanks to widespread corruption in the military and an abrupt withdrawal of all troops by the US, the Taliban started its offensive by sending small units to rural areas where the government had outposts. The Taliban successfully struck deals with low-level officers and representatives of the Afghan government through bribes or security promises, according to reports.

Another factor for the collapse could be President Ashraf Ghani and his failure to generate support for the troops against the Taliban. Without the necessary air support, the Afghan military which is heavily reliant on US support, fled posts and abandoned weapons once the Taliban started advancing.

Without any support from the population or the military personnel on the ground to fight against the Taliban’s rapid advancements, the imminent threat became a reality in no time.

(Edited by : Kanishka Sarkar)