Under the title "Concerns Over U.S. Missions as Taliban Advances," the Al Arabiya website reported that the latest assessments from U.S. intelligence agencies indicate warnings regarding the Taliban's rapid advance in Afghanistan and the deteriorating security situation in the country, raising new concerns over U.S. missions and their attachments there. U.S. officials revealed a number of obstacles that a limited number of personnel at the fortified U.S. embassy in Kabul must navigate, particularly with the spread of COVID-19 and the U.S. withdrawal from the country.
Hugo Lawrence, who served as the senior U.S. diplomat in Afghanistan during the presidencies of Barack Obama and Donald Trump, stated that in the absence of a fortified military presence in Kabul, the mission of the U.S. embassy becomes more complicated, dangerous, and difficult.
The signs of fear are increasing. He confirmed that while some governments, including France and China, have already evacuated their citizens from Afghanistan, peace talks between the Taliban and the Afghan government show little sign of progress, which increases the fears for diplomatic missions there. Additionally, a senior former official familiar with the mission in Afghanistan, who requested anonymity, noted that security has become nonexistent and that tribal and ethnic divisions complicate matters further, making the mission more complicated, as stated in a report published by The Washington Post.
The report also indicated that diplomats are currently working alongside relief workers outside the vast embassy compound in Kabul, located on the outskirts of a fortified diplomatic and governmental area. It noted that the U.S. embassy itself is considered a city in its own right, containing offices, apartments, restaurants, and gym facilities, and housed about 1,400 Americans as part of a total of approximately 4,000 personnel.
It is worth mentioning that U.S. intelligence indicated on Saturday that their assessments increasingly depict a bleak picture of the Taliban's accelerated progress across Afghanistan. Reports from the agency warned that the extremist group could soon dominate a large part of the country following the withdrawal of U.S. forces. Several informed sources considered that the capital, Kabul, would be the "final station" for the group, likely to target large population centers before advancing toward the capital.
