Aug 10, 2021: US envoy to Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad will press the Taliban to halt its military operation during talks in the Qatari capital this week as the Taliban continue to capture provincial capitals across Afghanistan.

President Joe Biden has said the U.S. military mission in Afghanistan will end on Aug. 31, arguing that the Afghan people must decide their own future and that he would not consign another generation of Americans to the 20-year war.

The US State Department said in a statement on Monday that several planned visits had been made over the three days to discuss the situation in Afghanistan.

“Ambassador Khalilzad will be in Doha to help formulate a joint international response to the rapidly deteriorating situation in Afghanistan,” the department added.

The statement added that the meetings would be attended by governmental and organizational representatives from the region and beyond, who would “press for a reduction in violence and ceasefire and a commitment not to recognize a government imposed by force.”

On Monday, the Taliban announced that they had captured Afghanistan’s sixth provincial capital in four days.

A spokesman for the Taliban claimed to have captured Aybak, the capital of the northern province of Samangan.

Amid the Taliban’s advance, the United States is showing no signs of stepping up airstrikes, a Pentagon spokesman said, adding that Washington now sees the fight as a victory or defeat for Afghan political and military leaders to win or lose.

A Pentagon spokesman, John Kirby, told a news conference that “when we look back, it will be about leadership and whether leadership has been demonstrated by the Afghans.”

“Now they have to defend their country. This is their struggle.”

U.S. officials say military commanders have bluntly stated that the situation in Afghanistan is deteriorating.

He said Afghan Special Operations Forces had been able to stop the Taliban at key bases, including Kandahar and Lashkar Gah. But in places where commandos have not been sent, regular troops have been subdued.

U.S. Army Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, spoke Monday with his Middle East commander, Gen. Frank McKenzie.

But defense and military leaders have not made any new recommendations for stepping up US operations in defense of Afghans. The United States has been carrying out a handful of airstrikes on the Taliban for a day, and officials say no orders have been issued to increase them. There are no US fighter jets in Afghanistan as the withdrawal of troops continues, so fighter jets are traveling several hours to reach their targets.

Kirby declined to say how many US airstrikes have been carried out in recent days and whether the Biden administration had carried out airstrikes even after Biden’s return on August 31, given the Taliban’s advance.

“We will continue to support the Afghan government and military leaders,” Kirby said.

Senior officials from the White House National Security Council, the State Department and the Department of Defense were in close contact with officials at the US embassy in Kabul on Sunday to assess the far-reaching impact of the fall of Kunduz, the largest and most important Taliban victory according to an official.

However, the administration official indicated that the Biden administration was determined to stick to its plan to end the US war in Afghanistan by the end of the month, despite the Taliban’s rapid strategic gains.

Kirby acknowledged that fighting on the ground was clearly not going in the right direction. As of Monday, three weeks and a day after the deadline for the United States to end its military intervention in Afghanistan, the Taliban appear to be gaining ground.

The group was defeated in the wake of the September 11, 2001 US-led invasion of the United States.

The US and its NATO allies stayed behind, partly because the military is capable of fighting the Taliban after Western forces retreated in the hope of promoting a government based in Kabul.

US President Joe Biden has said he respects the evacuation agreement reached by President Donald Trump with the Taliban.

Biden has made it clear that he is also committed to pulling US forces out of their longest-running war. The Biden administration says it will continue to provide financial and logistical support to the Afghan army, including contractors, to help maintain the government’s air force outside Afghanistan after the withdrawal.

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