George W. Bush says Afghanistan pull-out a ‘mistake’ as Taliban capture key border crossing with Pakistan
- Former US president says women and children will be ‘slaughtered’
- Taliban claim capture of strategic border crossing of Spin Boldak
Former US president George W. Bush on Wednesday criticised the withdrawal of Nato troops from Afghanistan and said civilians were being left to be “slaughtered” by the Taliban.
“Afghan women and girls are going to suffer unspeakable harm. This is a mistake … They’re just going to be left behind to be slaughtered by these very brutal people, and it breaks my heart,” Bush told German broadcaster Deutsche Welle.
The former Republican president, who sent troops to Afghanistan in autumn 2001 after the September 11 attacks on New York’s World Trade Centre, said he believed German Chancellor Angela Merkel “feels the same way”.
Bush said Merkel, who was set to retire from politics later this year after 16 years in power, had brought “class and dignity to a very important position and made very hard decisions”.
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US and Nato forces began withdrawing from Afghanistan in early May and are due to completely pull out by September 11, some 20 years after they arrived in the war-torn country.
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The country is facing a crisis as the insurgents snap up territory across the countryside, stretching government forces and leading to a fresh wave of internally displaced families.
On Wednesday, the Taliban said they had captured the strategic border crossing of Spin Boldak along the frontier with Pakistan.
The interior ministry insisted the attack had been repelled and government forces had control, but a Pakistan security source said the Taliban’s white flag was flying over the town.
The situation on the ground could not immediately be verified, but social media was abuzz with pictures of Taliban fighters looking relaxed in what appeared to be the frontier town.
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Its seizure follows days of heavy fighting across Kandahar province, where the government was forced to deploy commando fighters to prevent the fall of the provincial capital even as the insurgents inched closer to taking the frontier crossing.
In a statement, insurgent spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid assured traders and residents there that their “security is guaranteed”.
But Afghan officials insisted they still had control.
“The terrorist Taliban had some movements near the border area … The security forces have repelled the attack,” interior ministry spokesman Tareq Arian told said.
Residents disputed the government’s claims.
“I went to my shop this morning and saw that the Taliban are everywhere. They are in the bazaar, in police HQ and custom areas. I can also hear the sound of fighting nearby,” said Raz Mohammad, a shopkeeper who works near the border.
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The border crossing is one of the most strategically valuable for the Taliban.
It provides direct access to Pakistan’s Balochistan province – where the insurgents’ top leadership has been based for decades – along with an unknown number of reserve fighters who regularly enter Afghanistan to help bolster their ranks.
Hours after the crossing fell, an AFP reporter on the Pakistani side saw around 150 Taliban fighters riding on motorcycles, waving insurgent flags, as they demanded to be allowed to cross into Afghanistan.
Balochistan is a favoured destination for fighters regularly heading for medical treatment and hosts many of their families.
A major highway leading from the border connects to Pakistan’s commercial capital Karachi and its sprawling port on the Arabian Sea, which is considered a linchpin for Afghanistan’s billion-dollar heroin trade that has provided a crucial source of revenue for the Taliban’s war chest over the years.
In Washington earlier this week, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said success fending off the Taliban would depend on the country’s leaders, and not so much what the United States does.
“They know what they need to do,” Kirby told reporters.