US Envoy: Fear of Taliban Seizing Afghan Capital Kabul ‘Overblown’

Locals report growing militant presence north of capital

US special envoy Zalmay Khalilzad dismissed the idea that the Taliban could quickly conquer the Afghan capital city of Kabul, calling the danger “overblown” and saying people are being unduly pessimistic.

That’s certainly the word he’s getting. Afghan officials have continued to insist that they are ‘ready‘ for a US pullout, and even to the extent they’re facing Taliban offensives, several other key places are likely to fall long before Kabul.

Still, locals are warning that a growing militant presence has made the area north of Kabul unsafe. That’s both Taliban and ISIS presences, and ISIS has been responsible for a lot of the big Kabul strikes lately, but it’s far from the impression of a secure city others want to give.

After the end of the Soviet occupation led to a precipitous collapse of the government, some are trying to draw a comparison with a planned US pullout. At the same time, security has been spotty across Afghanistan for years, and the US presence has done little to keep cities from falling intermittently.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.