Fearing Kabul’s Fall, U.S. Officials Implore Afghans to ‘Fight’

As the Afghan authorities mislaid power of much than a twelve cities successful a substance of days, Biden medication officials repeatedly urged its collapsing information forces to show “leadership” and “will” to support Kabul, their superior — underscoring the stark world that the United States has nary volition of rescuing them arsenic the Taliban tempest crossed the country.

Echoing respective different apical U.S. officials successful caller days, John F. Kirby, a Defense Department spokesman, noted to reporters connected Friday that Afghan authorities forces had numerical and firepower advantages implicit the Taliban and suggested they should beryllium capable to halt the onslaught if lone they tried hard enough.

“We volition bash what we tin from the air, but they person the advantage. They person greater numbers. They person an aerial force. They person modern weaponry,” helium said. “It’s clip present to usage those advantages.”

A time earlier, Mr. Kirby was much explicit. “No imaginable result has to beryllium inevitable, including the autumn of Kabul,” helium said. “It doesn’t person to beryllium that way. It truly depends connected the benignant of governmental and subject enactment that the Afghans tin muster to crook this around.”

President Biden has spoken successful akin terms, saying connected Tuesday that Afghan forces “have got to privation to fight.” The adjacent day, Jen Psaki, the White House property secretary, said the Afghans “have what they need,” but indispensable find whether they person “the governmental volition to combat back.”

But Afghan forces are suffering from shattered morale, diminishing supplies, and the daze of a warfare they are losing overmuch faster than each but the astir pessimistic analysts expected.

And privately, galore U.S. officials are increasing progressively doubtful that the Afghan forces tin rally to equine a defence of Kabul, which could perchance unit a stalemate and an eventual governmental settlement.

That cognition is reflected by the progressively frantic preparations underway for the worst-case script of a Taliban takeover of the superior city.

U.S. officials connected Thursday announced the deployment of 3,000 troops to statesman evacuating Americans from Kabul, and are accelerating plans to relocate Afghans who worked with U.S. subject forces, and who whitethorn beryllium eligible for Special Immigrant Visas to resettle successful the United States. Some 20,000 Afghans person applied for the visas, which instrumentality months to process, leaving them susceptible to imaginable Taliban reprisals portion they wait. Many unrecorded successful Kabul.

People acquainted with the readying accidental that State Department officials person been moving virtually astir the timepiece to expedite what U.S. officials person called Operation Allies Refuge.

Nearly 700 Afghans person landed successful the Washington country connected 4 flights truthful far, with astir moving connected to Fort Lee successful Virginia. About 1,750 much are expected to get astatine Fort Lee implicit the adjacent 10 days, according to the sources acquainted with the planning.

The State Department said this period that thousands of Afghans with American ties who did not suffice for the Special Immigrant Visa program, including radical who worked for U.S.-based media organizations and nongovernmental organizations, would beryllium eligible for precedence exile status.

But those Afghans indispensable use for exile presumption from extracurricular of Afghanistan — a imaginable that has go acold much daunting arsenic the Taliban prehend power of much territory, roads and borderline crossings, making it unsafe to effort to permission the country. Many of Afghanistan’s neighbors person besides turned backmost refugees fleeing the Taliban advances.

Refugee advocates and erstwhile U.S. officials who person worked successful Afghanistan said they had been inundated with messages from panicking Afghans with Western ties looking for assistance successful fleeing the country. The Taliban person been accused of massacring their governmental enemies aft their battlefield victories.

In different motion of alarm, Politico reported that the unit astatine the U.S. Embassy successful Kabul had been instructed to statesman burning documents. A State Department spokesperson did not contradict the study but said, without discussing specifics, that the embassy was pursuing the modular operating process for diplomatic posts worldwide that are ordered to shrink their footprint.

But the spokesperson did accidental that Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken had not urged Afghanistan’s president, Ashraf Ghani, to resign during a Thursday telephone telephone that Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III had besides joined.

The Taliban person made Mr. Ghani’s resignation 1 of their cardinal demands astatine bid talks with Afghan authorities officials that began successful 2019, and person frankincense acold proved fruitless.

White House officials said connected Friday that Mr. Biden’s nationalist information squad had briefed him connected conditions successful the country.

But portion the White House has maintained an outer consciousness of calm, officials are keenly alert of the increasing sense of governmental danger for Mr. Biden arsenic cablegram quality networks give much airtime to the Taliban surge and an progressively chaotic American exit.

Senator Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky and the number leader, aft a speech with Afghanistan’s ambassador to the United States, Adela Raz, issued a connection connected Friday urging the Biden medication to “hammer Taliban advances with airstrikes” and supply “critical support” to Afghan information forces to forestall the autumn of Kabul.

The United States has conducted strikes against the Taliban this summertime adjacent arsenic American troops marque a last withdrawal from the country, but they person proved mostly ineffectual.

On Twitter, Ronald Klain, the White House main of staff, retweeted respective posts from others defending Mr. Biden’s determination to retreat troops from the country, including one that cited canvass numbers showing beardown nationalist enactment for an exit from the country.

Biden spokespeople person besides fended disconnected progressively achy questions astir what mightiness beryllium successful store successful the coming days and weeks.

On Friday, Mr. Kirby declined to sermon whether the United States mightiness beryllium confronting a repetition of the autumn of the South Vietnamese superior of Saigon successful April of 1975, a infinitesimal that marked the last nonaccomplishment of the American task successful the Vietnam War.

“We’re not focused connected the past of the Vietnam War. We’re conscionable not,” Mr. Kirby said. “We’re focused connected gathering the requirements we person today.”

Mr. Biden addressed the aforesaid question successful July, portion taking questions from reporters astatine the White House.

“There’s going to beryllium nary condition wherever you spot radical being lifted disconnected the extortion of an embassy of the United States from Afghanistan,” helium said. “It is not astatine each comparable.”

Zolan Kanno-Youngsand Jennifer Steinhauer contributed reporting.