US president Joe Biden there defending his decision to withdraw troops from Afghanistan- -he said the 20-year mission will come to an end on the 31st of August. The USA’s decision to leave Kabul has raised several questions like whether this opens the gates for Taliban to take over Afghanistan and will it also lead to a collpase of the incumbent government led by President Ashraf Ghani? Does it also suggest America’s failure to bring peace in the war-torn country?

Taliban has been repeatedly attacking the Afghan forces since the US troops began to withdraw in May. The Taliban now controls roughly a third of 421 districts in Afghanistan.

Earlier this week, more than 1,000 members of the Afghan security forces fled to Tajikistan as the Taliban advanced around them. Intelligence experts fear the Taliban could seize control of the country within six months.

A recent United Nations report said civilian casualties in Afghanistan increased by nearly 30 percent in the first three months of 2021. The United States claims it has lost over 2,400 soldiers in Afghanistan-- a separate study by Brown University claims some 58,000 Afghan military and police casualties from 2001 to 2018.

Meanwhile, India said it is carefully monitoring the security situation in Afghanistan and has not closed any of its embassies in the country.

To throw further light on the above developments, CNBC-TV18 spoke with Susannah George, Afghanistan and Pakistan Bureau Chief, The Washington Post.

For the entire discussion, watch the video

(Edited by : Aditi Gautam)

First Published:Jul 9, 2021 7:26 PM IST