Afghani children surveying the area after a bomb attack in July 2021 The end for Afghan Official forces in the south provincial capital of Zaranj, a trading hub close to the Iranian border, was announced by a Taliban commander. Except that he shaped it as a start, and an menacing one.

“This is the beginning,” he declared in a statement. “See how other provinces fall in our hands very soon.”

The capital of Nimroz province, Zaranj was captured on 6 August, the first major city to fall to a Taliban assault in years.

Within the space of seven days of a lightning Taliban offensive, the Zaranj commander’s prediction would be proved correct as city after city fell in a comprehensive rout of government forces. The Taliban now controls half og Afghanistan’s provincial capitals, seizing Kandahar (Afghanistan’s second largest city) and US officials predict that Kabul may be underway possible in the next 30 – 90 days.

Visual of Afghani Control Why is this happening?

Back in 2001, the US was responding to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington, in which nearly 3,000 people were killed. Officials identified militant group al-Qaeda, and its leader Osama Bin Laden, as responsible.

Bin Laden was in Afghanistan, under the protection of the Taliban, the group who had been in power since 1996.

When they refused to hand him over, the US intervened militarily, quickly removing the Taliban and vowing to support democracy and eliminate the terrorist threat. The militants slipped away and later regrouped.

Nato allies had joined the US and a new Afghan government took over in 2004 but deadly Taliban attacks continued. President Barack Obama’s “troop surge” in 2009 helped push back the Taliban but it was not long term.

In 2014, at the end of what was the bloodiest year since 2001, Nato’s international forces ended their combat mission, leaving responsibility for security to the Afghan army. That gave resurgence to the Taliban as they launch a series of suicide attacks, car bombings and other assaults. The parliament building in Kabul, and the city of Kunduz are attacked. State militants begin operations in Afghanistan.

5 years later Afghan President Ashraf Ghani says more than 45,k members of his country’s security forces have been killed since he became leader in 2014. The figure is far higher than previously thought

Peace talks between the US and the Taliban started tentatively, with the Afghan government pretty much uninvolved, signing an “agreement for bringing peace” to Afghanistan, in Doha, Qatar in 2020. The US and Nato allies agree to withdraw all troops within 14 months if the militants uphold the deal.

Afghani civillians ”can’t remember a time of peace”