Kabul could fall to Taliban as early as a month: US intelligence

New Delhi, Aug 12 (IANS) US intelligence officials believe that the Taliban can topple the Afghan capital Kabul, sooner than they expected previously.The officials on the condition of anonymity told The Washington Post that they had predicted the collapse of Kabul from six to 12 months after the foreign troops' withdrawal but everything has changed and the time has come to be three months now, as per Afghan media reports. The pace at which the Taliban are gaining territories is surprising and some predict that the capital could even by collapsed in a span of one month. The latest US intelligence assessment said Kabul could fall to militants as early as a month, officials said. US officials now worry that Afghan civilians, soldiers and others will flee the city ahead of a Taliban assault, The Wall Street Journal reported. The Taliban managed to collapse nine provinces only in six days which shows the speed of their territorial gains. US military officials acknowledged that nothing is moving in the right direction in Afghanistan and the security situation is way worse than it was in June. As the US full withdrawal gets completed by September, there is a grave concern of the Taliban to be over taking Afghanistan by force. US Department of State reiterated that the Taliban's government will not be recognized if it is imposed by force. The warning comes as the Troika plus meeting on Afghanistan is going on in Doha which aims at pressing the Taliban to eschew violence and agree upon armistice.
--IANS
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