Marines Prepare for Possible Evacuation of Americans in Afghanistan

KABUL, Afghanistan — The Pentagon is moving thousands of Marines into presumption for a imaginable evacuation of the American Embassy and U.S. citizens successful Kabul arsenic the Biden medication braces for a imaginable illness of the Afghan authorities wrong 30 days, medication and subject officials said.

The sharply deteriorating concern successful Afghanistan, arsenic the Taliban rapidly beforehand crossed the northbound and Afghan information forces conflict to support ever shrinking territory successful the southbound and west, has forced the Defense Department to accelerate plans to get Americans retired of the country. Officials accidental immoderate evacuation volition impact a robust usage of American subject unit to determination radical to Hamid Karzai International Airport to waiting subject transport planes and to support them en route.

American negotiators are besides trying to extract assurances from the Taliban that they volition not onslaught the embassy if they overrun the capital, 2 American officials said.

On Thursday, the embassy sent the latest successful a bid of alarming alerts, urging Americans to “leave Afghanistan instantly utilizing disposable commercialized formation options.”

The 30-day estimation is 1 script and medication and subject officials importune that the autumn of Kabul mightiness inactive beryllium prevented if Afghan information forces tin muster the resoluteness to enactment up much resistance. But portion Afghan commandos person managed to proceed warring successful immoderate areas, they person mostly folded successful a fig of bluish provincial capitals.

The Taliban seized the strategical metropolis of Ghazni, astir 90 miles southbound of Kabul, connected Thursday, putting the radical successful a amended presumption to onslaught Kabul aft its caller drawstring of victories successful the north.

And arsenic Ghazni fell, Taliban fighters broke done aggregate beforehand lines successful Kandahar, pushing heavy into the city. As Afghanistan’s second-largest city, Kandahar is historically and strategically important. The Taliban, led by Mullah Mohammad Omar, began their insurgency determination successful the 1990s.

Herat, a metropolis successful occidental Afghanistan adjacent the Iranian border, was besides successful an progressively unsafe presumption arsenic Taliban fighters flooded in.

Another elder U.S. authoritative described the temper successful the White House arsenic a operation of alarm and resignation — astatine the accelerated gait of the Taliban violative and the illness of Afghan nationalist forces, and implicit however the concern could proceed to worsen. There has been a changeless watercourse of video teleconference calls each time this week, the authoritative said.

Three contingents of Marines are preparing for the imaginable evacuation of the American Embassy, officials said. A Marine battalion of respective 100 is already connected the embassy grounds, liable for evacuating the embassy, which has 4,000 employees, including 1,400 Americans, officials said.

In addition, the Pentagon is moving a Marine expeditionary unit, with much than 2,000 Marines, into presumption person to the aerial way implicit occidental Pakistan, known arsenic the “boulevard,” wherever it tin dispatch its forces into Afghanistan arsenic a accelerated effect squad that would beryllium capable to statesman an embassy evacuation wrong a time of orders, officials said. And arsenic a contingency program successful lawsuit immoderate embassy evacuation turns into a combat with the Taliban, Defense Department officials person tasked thousands of Marines to statesman a grooming workout that can, if necessary, rapidly beryllium turned into an evacuation deployment, the officials said. The Marines successful the workout person been told that they whitethorn request to beryllium acceptable to deploy adjacent week wrong 96 hours, officials said.

Asked during a quality league connected Wednesday whether the Pentagon was speeding up immoderate evacuation of radical from the embassy, a spokesperson for the Defense Department, John F. Kirby, demurred.

“We’re focused connected the information concern that we look now, which again we’ve acknowledged is deteriorating,” helium said. “We are surely mindful of the advances that the Taliban person made successful presumption of taking implicit yet an accrued fig of provincial capitals.”

In the Biden administration’s aspirational program for Afghanistan, nary of this was expected to hap — astatine slightest not truthful quickly. President Biden announced successful April that American troops would retreat from the state by Sept. 11; helium aboriginal moved that day up to Aug. 31, and astir of the troops person left. The president insisted that the Afghan authorities and military, with fiscal enactment from the United States, would beryllium liable for defending the country’s municipality areas from the Taliban.

But since the announcement, the Taliban person rolled crossed metropolis aft city, contempt having lone astir 75,000 fighters compared with the American-trained Afghan information forces’ 300,000 troops. That dichotomy has caused vexation successful the Pentagon and among American officials, who person repeatedly said that the Afghan troops, if their backs were to the wall, would rally to decision the Taliban.

“They person a batch of advantages that the Taliban don’t have,” Mr. Kirby said, referring to Afghanistan’s nationalist information forces. “Taliban doesn’t person an aerial force, Taliban doesn’t ain airspace. They person a batch of advantages. Now, they person to usage those advantages.”

But President Ashraf Ghani’s medication has failed to transportation retired immoderate benignant of strategy to support what cities that stay oregon retake them contempt saying helium would bash so. Pro-government militia forces, championed by Afghan officials and reminiscent of the bloody civilian warfare of the 1990s, person consistently been incapable to propulsion the Taliban back.

Mr. Ghani connected Wednesday replaced the country’s service main and appointed a caller commandant of the military’s commando units, successful what has amounted to 1 of his astir nationalist moves yet to contend with the Taliban offensive, which has taken much than fractional of Afghanistan’s astir 400 districts.

The American military, for its part, is inactive supporting, to immoderate degree, Afghanistan’s authorities forces with airstrikes. But those strikes person mostly been constricted to the confederate portion of the country, astir Kandahar. That is due to the fact that of logistics: Now that the United States has withdrawn from Bagram basal successful the north, and has hauled distant its warplanes and their monolithic enactment systems, it is harder to scope the north. Such strikes could necessitate aerial refueling and would person different logistical hurdles that marque them harder to conduct.

Zalmay Khalilzad, the main American envoy successful talks with the Taliban, is starring the diplomatic effort for assurances from the Taliban that they won’t onslaught the embassy. Two officials confirmed his efforts, which person not been antecedently reported, connected information of anonymity to sermon the delicate negotiations.

Mr. Khalilzad is hoping to person Taliban leaders that the embassy indispensable stay open, and secure, if the radical hopes to person American fiscal assistance and different assistance arsenic portion of a aboriginal Afghan government. The Taliban enactment has said it wants to beryllium seen arsenic a morganatic steward of the country, and is seeking relations with different planetary powers, including Russia and China, successful portion to person economical support.

The State Department’s spokesman, Ned Price, declined to remark connected Wednesday, but said backing would beryllium conditioned connected whether aboriginal Afghan governments would “have immoderate semblance of durability.”

“Legitimacy bestows, and fundamentally is the ticket, to the levels of planetary assistance, humanitarian assistance for the Afghan people,” Mr. Price said.

Five existent and erstwhile officials described the temper wrong the embassy arsenic progressively tense and worried, and diplomats astatine the State Department’s office successful Washington noted a consciousness of tangible slump astatine the specter of closing it, astir 20 years aft U.S. Marines reclaimed the burned-out gathering successful December 2001.

Several radical gloomily revived a examination that each privation to avoid: the autumn of Saigon successful 1975, erstwhile Americans were evacuated from the embassy from a rooftop by helicopter.

“I don’t deliberation radical are yet astatine the constituent wherever they would accidental we request to get retired the door, but they volition beryllium looking astatine the doorway a batch much often,” said Ronald E. Neumann, who was the American ambassador to Afghanistan from 2005 to 2007 and is present the president of the American Academy of Diplomacy successful Washington.

Thomas Gibbons-Neff reported from Kabul, and Helene Cooper, Lara Jakes and Eric Schmitt from Washington.