美国国务院将开始减少美国驻喀布尔大使馆的工作人员，五角大楼也将在“我们说话的时候”派遣部队来提供帮助为这些离开提供便利该机构星期五说，塔利班武装继续前进省会。
五角大楼新闻秘书约翰·柯比不会说这些进展让拜登政府感到意外，但他表示，官员们“肯定担心”塔利班的行动速度。
“我们显然正在关注这一点，就像你正在关注这一点并实时看到它发生一样，这令人深感担忧。事实上，不断恶化的条件是一个因素——一个很大的因素——为什么总统批准这个任务来帮助支持我们——减少喀布尔的人员，”他在五角大楼周五下午的简报中说。
柯比说，前往首都喀布尔的两个海军陆战队营中的一个营的“领导人员”已经到达，3000名士兵的“大部分”将在周末之前到达那里。
根据美国广播公司新闻获得的内部通知，美国驻喀布尔大使馆已指示所有美国人员销毁文件和电子设备等物品，以“减少财产上的敏感材料数量”。
通知中说:“请还包括带有大使馆或机构标志的物品、美国国旗或可能在宣传工作中被滥用的物品。
美国国务院发言人并不否认这种情况，但在一份声明中，他将事情描述为“旨在最大限度减少我们足迹的标准操作程序。”
科尔比周四下午表示，随着危机升级，没有任何具体事件导致乔·拜登总统和国防部长劳埃德·奥斯汀执行派遣部队的计划，而是总体趋势在恶化阿富汗。
“在过去的几天里，没有一个突发事件导致总统和国务卿做出这个决定。这是一系列事件的交汇，正如我几周以来一直在说的那样，我们一直非常密切地关注着当地的安全局势——谨慎对待它，负责任地观察趋势，为我们人民的安全和保障做出最好的决定，要比等到为时已晚好得多，”柯比说。
一名美国官员告诉美国广播公司新闻，过去48小时在阿富汗发生的事件，以及塔利班对阿富汗主要城市施加的压力，是决定继续减少大使馆人员和新军事任务的重要因素。
一名美国官员告诉美国广播公司新闻，一项军事分析称，喀布尔可能在30至60天内被隔离，在90天内被占领。周四，随着塔利班占领阿富汗第三大城市赫拉特，这一时间表似乎变得更加紧迫。截至周五，塔利班已经控制了坎大哈，该国第二大城市，位于喀布尔以南300英里，被认为是塔利班的诞生地。塔利班还占领了赫尔曼德省的首府拉什卡尔加。
美国驻喀布尔大使馆敦促美国人立即撤离阿富汗，因为人们担心首都可能在几周内落入塔利班手中。
“从他们的行动来看，很明显，他们似乎试图孤立喀布尔，”科比周五下午在五角大楼谈到塔利班时说。
五角大楼发言人说，美国“当然担心”塔利班在阿富汗的快速发展，但表示“这是阿富汗人团结起来的时刻。”“没有必然的结果。”最新的:https://t.co/lR6oz0pwtZpic.twitter.com/idLOQtpe5p
—美国广播公司新闻(@美国广播公司)2021年8月13日
随着塔利班周五取得进展，前国防部副助理部长、中东研究所高级研究员、阿富汗战争老兵、美国广播公司新闻国家安全分析师米克·马尔罗伊呼吁美国撤销撤军决定，以“防止该国落入塔利班手中，并为恐怖组织建立安全避难所。”
他说:“如果没有这一点，国际社会必须立即在喀布尔地区建立一个安全、设防的地区，逃离塔利班的阿富汗人，特别是女性，可以在那里有自己的安全避难所。
他补充说:“这也应该伴随着对塔利班的明确警告，如果他们进入喀布尔地区，他们将受到美国军事力量的打击。“这是他们唯一能理解的事情，也可能是唯一能阻止他们对喀布尔发动袭击，造成重大人道主义危机的事情。”
据一名高级政府官员称，拜登周三晚上与他的团队举行了一次会议，并责成他们提出建议。然后，在周四上午与奥斯汀和国家安全顾问杰克·沙利文的一次会议上，这些建议被提交给拜登，他下令向前推进。
这位官员还表示，总统周四上午分别与国务卿安东尼·布林肯进行了交谈，讨论外交战略，拜登继续参与这一问题，并就局势与他的团队保持密切联系。
美国国务院发言人内德·普莱斯说，由于“不断变化的安全局势”，驻喀布尔大使馆将继续开放，以减少其平民足迹他补充说，大使馆预计将减少在阿富汗的核心外交存在。
“这不是什么——这不是遗弃。这不是疏散。这不是大规模撤离，”普莱斯周四表示。“这是什么，是我们平民足迹的缩小。这是美国平民的缩编，在许多情况下，他们将能够在其他地方履行其重要职能，无论是在美国还是在该地区的其他地方。”
英国国防部和外交、联邦和发展办公室的一份联合新闻稿称，英国还将向喀布尔短期派遣军事人员(约600名伞兵)，为离开该国的英国国民提供支持。英国驻喀布尔大使馆的工作人员已经减少到一个核心团队，专注于为那些需要快速离开该国的人提供领事和签证服务。
英国国防大臣本·华莱士星期五说，他认为，随着塔利班势力的壮大，英国正在“走向内战”。
在五角大楼，科比周四宣布，国防部将从三个步兵营派出3000名士兵——两个海军陆战队营和一个陆军营——前往喀布尔的哈米德·卡尔扎伊国际机场，帮助从美国大使馆转移美国人员。这些数字还不包括已经在喀布尔保护机场和大使馆的650人。
另外将派遣1 000名人员，协助处理担任口译员、导游和其他承包商并申请特殊移民签证的阿富汗人(SIV)。
柯比说:“我想强调的是，这些部队的部署是为了应国务院的要求，支持有序、安全地减少文职人员，并帮助加快通过SIV申请者开展工作的进程。“这是一项临时任务，重点很窄。就像我们的军队部署到危险地带一样，我们的指挥官有自卫的固有权利，对他们的任何攻击都可以而且将会得到有力和适当的回应。”
第82空降师的3000至3500名士兵也将被派往科威特，以备不时之需。
柯比称这是一次“非常临时的任务，目的非常临时”，并表示国防部预计在8月31日的最后期限后，将在喀布尔保留不超过1000名士兵来保护机场和大使馆——这一数字明显高于最初设定的650名士兵。
普莱斯说，官员们将继续重新安置协助美国任务的合格阿富汗人，如翻译和其他为美国政府工作的人，未来几天航班将增加。
据美国国务院发言人说，布林肯和奥斯汀周四早些时候与阿富汗总统阿什拉夫·加尼交谈，向他简要介绍了美国的计划，但两位美国官员没有告诉加尼辞职，他补充说，“表明我们已经辞职的谣言是完全错误的。由阿富汗人来决定谁领导这个国家。”
塔利班要求加尼辞职，以换取减少暴力，并为过渡政府奠定基础。但是加尼说，他是这个国家民主选举的领导人，并将继续这样下去，直到塔利班和阿富汗政府之间的谈判达成一个结论——一个越来越遥远的现实。
联合国难民事务高级专员发言人沙比亚·曼图星期五在日内瓦的新闻发布会上警告说，阿富汗正在发生日益恶化的人道主义危机。
“不断升级的敌对行动造成了巨大的人员伤亡。联合国援助特派团警告说，如果暴力没有显著减少，阿富汗将会出现自联合国记录开始以来有史以来最高的平民伤亡数字。
联合国秘书长安东尼奥·古特雷斯在周五的讲话中呼吁停火。
他说:“国际社会向那些在战争道路上的人发出的信息必须是明确的:通过军事力量夺取权力是一个失败的主张。“这只会导致长期内战或阿富汗的完全孤立。”
古特雷斯继续说:“我呼吁塔利班立即停止进攻，本着诚意，为了阿富汗及其人民的利益进行谈判。
她说，根据联合国的数据，自今年年初以来，约有40万平民被迫逃离家园，去年年底全国已有290万阿富汗人在国内流离失所。
Afghanistan updates: Pentagon calls Taliban advances 'deeply concerning'
The State Department will begin reducing its staff levels at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul and the Pentagon is sending in troops "as we speak" to helpfacilitate those departures, the agency said Friday, as Taliban forcesadvance on moreprovincial capitals.
Pentagon press secretary John Kirby wouldn't say the advances took the Biden administration by surprise but said officials are "certainly concerned" by the speed at which the Taliban is moving.
"We're obviously watching this just like you're watching this and seeing it happen in real-time, and it's deeply concerning. In fact, the deteriorating conditions are a factor -- a big factor -- in why the president has approved this mission to help support our -- the reduction of personnel there in Kabul," he said in a briefing from the Pentagon Friday afternoon.
Kirby said the "leading elements" of one of the two Marine battalions headed to the capital city of Kabul have arrived and that "the bulk" of the 3,000 troops will be there by the end of the weekend.
The U.S. Embassy in Kabul has instructed all U.S. personnel to destroy items like documents and electronic devices to "reduce the amount of sensitive material on the property," according to an internal notice obtained by ABC News.
"Please also include items with embassy or agency logos, Americans flags, or items which could be misused in propaganda efforts," the notice said.
A State Department spokesperson is not denying this is the case, but in a statement described things as "standard operating procedure designed to minimize our footprint."
There wasn't any specific event that led President Joe Biden and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to execute the plan to send troops, Kirby said Thursday afternoon as the crisis escalated, but rather the overall worsening trend inAfghanistan.
"There wasn't one precipitating event in the last couple of days that led the president and the secretary to make this decision. It's a confluence of events, and as I've been saying for now for several weeks, we have been watching very closely with concern the security situation on the ground -- and far better to be prudent about it and be responsible and watching the trends to make the best decisions you can for safety and security of our people than to wait until it's too late," Kirby said.
The events in Afghanistan over the last 48 hours, with the Taliban pressuring major Afghan cities, were significant factors in the decision to go forward with the reduction in embassy staffing and the new military mission, a U.S. official told ABC News.
A military analysis said Kabul could be isolated in 30 to 60 days and be captured in 90 days, a U.S. official told ABC News. That timeline seemed even more accelerated Thursday as the Taliban claimed Herat, Afghanistan's third-largest city. As of Friday, the Taliban had taken control of Kandahar, the country's second-largest city, located 300 miles south of Kabul and considered the birthplace of the Taliban. The Taliban has also seized Lashkar Gah, the capital of Helmand province.
The U.S. Embassy in Kabul has urged Americans to evacuate Afghanistan immediately, amid fears that the capital could fall into Taliban hands in a matter of weeks.
"Clearly from their actions, it appears as if they are trying to get Kabul isolated," Kirby said of the Taliban at the Pentagon Friday afternoon.
Pentagon spokesperson says U.S. is "certainly concerned" by rapid Taliban advances in Afghanistan, but says "this is a moment for the Afghans to unite.""No outcome has to be inevitable."The latest:https://t.co/lR6oz0pwtZpic.twitter.com/idLOQtpe5p
— ABC News (@ABC)August 13, 2021
As the Taliban gained ground Friday, Mick Mulroy, a former deputy assistant secretary of defense, a senior fellow for the Middle East Institute, Afghanistan war veteran and ABC News national security analyst, called on the U.S. to reverse its decision to withdraw troops in order to "prevent the country's fall to the Taliban and the establishment of a safe haven for terrorist organizations."
"In the absence of that, the international community must immediately establish a secure, fortified area within the Kabul region where Afghans, especially females, fleeing the Taliban can have their own safe haven," he said.
"This should also come with a clear warning to the Taliban that if they enter the Kabul region, they will be met by military force from the United States," he added. "This is the only thing they will understand and likely the only thing that will stop them from an assault on Kabul that will cause a major humanitarian crisis."
Biden held a meeting with his team Wednesday night and tasked them to come up with recommendations, according to a senior administration official. Then, at a meeting Thursday morning with Austin and national security adviser Jake Sullivan, the recommendations were presented to Biden and he gave the order to move forward.
The official also said the president separately spoke with Secretary of State Antony Blinken Thursday morning to discuss a diplomatic strategy and that Biden continues to be engaged on this issue and is staying in close contact with his team on the situation.
State Department Spokesman Ned Price said the embassy in Kabul will remain open as it reduces its civilian footprint due to the "evolving security situation." He added that the embassy expects to draw down to a core diplomatic presence in Afghanistan.
"What this is not -- this is not abandonment. This is not an evacuation. This is not the wholesale withdrawal," Price said Thursday. "What this is, is a reduction in the size of our civilian footprint. This is a drawdown of civilian Americans who will, in many cases, be able to perform their important functions elsewhere, whether that's in the United States or elsewhere in the region."
The United Kingdom is also sending military personnel -- about 600 paratroopers -- to Kabul on a short-term basis to provide support to British nationals leaving the country, according to a joint press release from the Ministry of Defence and Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. The number of staffers working at the British Embassy in Kabul has been reduced to a core team focused on providing consular and visa services for those needing to rapidly leave the country.
U.K. Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said Friday he believed the country was "heading towards a civil war" as the Taliban gain momentum.
At the Pentagon, Kirby announced Thursday the Defense Department was sending 3,000 troops from three infantry battalions -- two Marine and one Army -- to Kabul's Hamid Karzai International Airport to help out with the removal of American personnel from the U.S. Embassy. These numbers are on top of the 650 who were already in Kabul protecting the airport and the embassy.
An additional 1,000 personnel will be sent to assist with the processing of Afghans who worked as interpreters, guides and other contractors and applied for Special Immigrant Visas (SIV).
"I want to stress that these forces are being deployed to support the orderly and safe reduction of civilian personnel at the request of the State Department and to help facilitate an accelerated process of working through SIV applicants," Kirby said. "This is a temporary mission with a narrow focus. As with all deployments of our troops into harm's way, our commanders have the inherent right of self defense, and any attack on them can and will be met with a forceful and appropriate response."
A brigade of 3,000 to 3,500 soldiers from the 82nd Airborne will also be sent to Kuwait to preposition in case they are needed.
Kirby called it a "very temporary mission for a very temporary purpose," and said the DOD expects to keep no more than 1,000 troops in Kabul to protect the airport and embassy after the Aug. 31 deadline -- a number that has notably crept up from the 650 troops originally set to remain.
Price said officials will continue to relocate qualified Afghans who assisted the American mission, such as interpreters and others who worked for the U.S. government, and flights will ramp up in the coming days.
Blinken and Austin spoke to Afghan President Ashraf Ghani earlier Thursday to brief him on the U.S. plans, but the two U.S. officials did not tell Ghani to resign, according to a State Department spokesperson, who added, "Rumors indicating we have done so are completely false. Decisions about who leads the country are for Afghans to make."
The Taliban have demanded that Ghani resign, in exchange for a reduction in violence and to lay the groundwork for a transitional government. But Ghani has said he is the democratically elected leader of the country and will remain so until negotiations between the Taliban and Afghan government reach a conclusion -- an increasingly distant reality.
Shabia Mantoo, a spokesperson for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, warned Friday at a press conference in Geneva that a worsening humanitarian crisis is unfolding in Afghanistan.
"The human toll of spiraling hostilities is immense. The United Nations Assistance Mission has warned that without a significant de-escalation in violence, Afghanistan is on course to witness the highest ever number of documented civilian casualties in a single year since the UN's records began," she said.
U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres called for a cease-fire in remarks on Friday.
"The message from the international community to those on the warpath must be clear: seizing power through military force is a losing proposition," he said. "That can only lead to prolonged civil war or to the complete isolation of Afghanistan."
"I call on the Taliban to immediately halt the offensive and to negotiate in good faith in the interest of Afghanistan and its people," Guterres continued.
According to the U.N., some 400,000 civilians have been forced to flee from their homes since the start of the year, joining 2.9 million Afghans already internally displaced across the country at the end of last year, she said.
