"88% of Americans Approve of the Military Action"
October 31, 2001 Gallup Poll
Frank Newport
keeps the U.S. & Afghan army / Police concentrated in fortified camps and the populace in a state of perpetual angst; and,
Offensive #2: Sporadic attacks & IED's on the highways & by-ways will continue to pressure the urban areas into a siege mentality,
Mao Zedong
In the first three months of the offensive, the Taliban
made significant advances in the countryside,
increasing the number of districts it controls from
73 to 223, progressively isolating urban centers.
06 Aug 2021 Operations:
1) 06 Aug - Zaranj captured, controlling
border-crossing from Iran ...
Starting on 6 August, the Taliban captured twenty-six of
Afghanistan's thirty-four provincial capitals,
including Kandahar and Herat, and by 10 August,
the Taliban controlled 65% of the country's area.
The Taliban are skirmishing around the approaches to the cities of Herat, Kandahar and Lashkar Gah. The United States has increased airstrikes in recent weeks to help prop up Afghan government forces, and has been particularly intense in the southern province of Helmand, where the capital of Kandahar is besieged.
Additional B-52 aircraft arrive at Al Udeid
04 May 2021 - U.S. Air Forces Central
for the First Time Since Withdrawal of Foreign Forces
06 Aug 2021 - WaPo
06 Aug 2021 - Stratfor
1) 07 Aug - Sheberghan captured, controlling
the Western terminus of Highway AH76 ...
2) 08 Aug - Sar-e-Pol captured, helping to secure
the North-West between Herat and Kabul ...
3) 08 Aug - Kunduz & Talogan captured, controlling
the Northern terminus of Highway AH7
and the border-crossing into Tajikistan ...
4) 09 Aug - Aybak captured, controlling Highway AH76
North of Kabul to Mazar-i-Sharif ...
Highway AH71 from Zaranj to
the Highway AH1 Junction ...
of territory along Afghanistan’s northern border
with China, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan.
The aim of the operation was to “get hold of financial hubs,
and the main commercial trade routes connecting
Afghanistan with central Asian countries, emphasizing
Afghanistan’s main port with Uzbekistan
and crossing with Turkmenistan.
at its North-Western terminus.
controls Highway AH1 at its North-Eastern terminus,
potentially placing Kandahar in a pocket...
8) Mazar-i-Sharif is in a pocket.
cut Highway AH1 between Kandahar and Kabul,
which could place both cities in separate pockets
... however, the Taliban ... may ...take a day-or-two
to consolidate the North & West beyond the Kandahar-Kabul Corridor.
Puts Key Cities at Risk of Being Overtaken
07 Jul 2021 - WaPo
B-52s Lead New US Airpower Onslaught to Stop Taliban Advances
07 Aug 2021 - New York Post
Tiny Mauritius Learns the Limits of Biden’s
Invocation of the International ‘Rules-Based 0rder’
08 Aug 2021 - WaPo
Pace of Taliban Advance Quickens as
Militants Overrun Three Major Cities in a Single Day
08 Aug 2021 - WaPo
Biden Unmoved on Afghan Exit as Taliban Sweep Provinces
09 Aug 2021 - Raw Story
U.S. Officials Warn Collapse of Afghan Capital
Could Come Sooner Than Expected
10 Aug 2021 - WaPo
On Tuesday (10 Aug), the Taliban overran the capitals of Badakhshan in the north, Farah in the west and Baghlan.
11-12 Aug 2021 Operations:
1) Pul-e-Khumri, Capital of Baghlan province captured,
controlling the junction of Highways AH76 & AH7
thus giving control of the North to the Taliban.
The next Taliban objective in the North may be to
press South along Highway AH76 to the junction
of Highway A77 at Charikar & Mahmud-i-Raqi,
securing the entire Northern 1/3 of the country,
and also controlling the Herat-Chaghcharan-Charikar road.
2) Capture Herat ...
3) Siege or Capture Kandahar.
Hundreds of Afghan Forces Surrender in Kunduz
as Taliban Consolidates Hold on Country’s North
11 Aug 2021 - WaPo
Taliban Fighters Capture Afghan City
at Strategic Junction North of Kabul
11 Aug 2021 - The Guardian
Afghanistan: Finance Minister Resigns,
Leaves Country as Security Situation Worsens
11 Aug 2021 - Stratfor
Taliban Take Kandahar and
Herat in Major Afghanistan 0ffensive
11 Aug 2021 - Associated Press
U.S. Sending Thousands More Troops to Afghanistan to
Bolster Security as Some Embassy Staff Are Withdrawn
12 Aug 2021 - WaPo
The U.S. embassy has advised nonofficial
Americans in Afghanistan to leave “immediately”
and noted that flights are limited.
Taliban Fighters Capture 10th Provincial Capital
After Days of Sweeping Gains
12 Aug 2021 - WaPo
three months, and is the 10th provincial capital
to fall to the Taliban in less than a week.
The province’s governor was arrested while fleeing.
Taliban fighters pushed farther South towards the
city of Kandahar.
UK and US Send Troops to Aid Evacuation from
Afghanistan as Taliban Advances
12 Aug 2021 - The Guardian
biggest prizes yet for the Taliban, who have now
taken 12 of the country’s 34 provincial capitals.
"Pentagon is sending a thousand troops to Qatar.
"4,000 additional US troops will be put on standby in Kuwait."
Taliban Tighten Grip on Approaches to Kabul
in Afghanistan Offensive
12 Aug 2021 - The Guardian
Afghan government control has shrunk to
less than a third of the country’s territory.
of the capital, and which sits on Highway 1 connecting
Kabul and Kandahar, means the Taliban control the main
strategic approaches to Kabul from the north and south
after the fall of Pul-e Khumri two days ago.
was Operation Frequent Wind, during which more than
7,000 Vietnamese civilians were evacuated from Saigon
on April 29 and 30, 1975 by helicopter." 13 Aug - Aljazeera
B) 09 Aug - Lashkar Gah
C) 07 Aug - Sheberghan
D) 08 Aug - Sar-e-Pol, Kunduz & Talogan
E) 09 Aug - Aybak
F) 11 Aug - Pul-e-Khumri
G) 12 Aug - Qalati Ghilji, Tarin Kot, Herat and Kandahar
H) 13 Aug - Firuz Koh
I) 14 Aug - Puli-e Alim & Gardez
each in their own respective siege-pocket,
supported only by airstrikes.
Gleaned The Guardian
Afghan military not to contest the countryside
as the Western-backed forces withdrew,
but to concentrate instead on defending the cities,
allowing the Taliban to isolate and besiege provincial
capitals and cut off lines of communication,
ultimately squeezing Kabul.
Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA)
Raw Story | August 23, 2021
Sarah K. Burris - Raw Story (18 Aug 2021)
"Nevertheless, the right thing for America to do, insist veterans, diplomats, pundits, women and non-governmental humanitarian groups, is for massive airlifts to rescue upwards of 90,000 now-refugees at risk ...
"The needed forms are complicated and all in English, of course, and there is no one left in Kabul to process would-be immigrants."
Terry H. Schwadron - DCReport (19 Aug 2021)
A) Catch-22 (disambiguation) - (Wikipedia)
B) noun - (Merriam-Webster)
1) a dilemma or difficult circumstance from
which there is no escape because
of mutually conflicting or dependent
conditions
2) A catch-22 is a paradoxical situation from
which an individual cannot escape because
of contradictory rules or limitations
3) a : an illogical, unreasonable,
or senseless situation
b : a measure or policy whose effect
is the opposite of what was intended
c : a situation presenting two equally
undesirable alternatives