Louis apartment over winding gravel roads to reach his destination, a 2,000-acre compound in rural Missouri owned by a wealthy friend.Īt 7:30 the next morning, he pulls on gray Mizzou sweats and matching running shorts, rubs the sleep from his eyes and heads out for his hourlong run with his training partner, Cristian Chirila. ONE WEEK IN early March, on a blustery, windswept day, Fabiano Caruana decides to get away. The grandmaster diet: How to lose weight while barely movingĮditor's note: This story on weight loss in chess was originally published on Sept. The statement served to highlight the lack of morale by Afghan forces to fight in a situation where the Taliban seemed to be speeding forward.You have reached a degraded version of because you're using an unsupported version of Internet Explorer.įor a complete experience, please upgrade or use a supported browser toppled the Taliban.ĭespite the Taliban’s gains, the Biden administration has said that Afghan security forces’ air force and superior numbers could give them an edge against the insurgents. Ghani delivered a televised speech Saturday, his first public appearance since the recent Taliban gains, and pledged not to give up the “achievements” of the 20 years since the U.S. Biden also directed Secretary of State Antony Blinken to support Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and engage with regional leaders in the pursuit of a political settlement with the Taliban. personnel will be met by a “swift and strong” military response. ![]() The president said Saturday his administration had conveyed to Taliban representatives in Qatar that any actions in Afghanistan that harm U.S. Republicans criticized the withdrawal as a mistake and ill-planned, though there was little political appetite by either party to send fresh troops to fight the Taliban. troops in the country could be problematic for Biden, who said he had no regrets about stopping the U.S. There was no discussion of rejoining the war, but the number of troops needed for security will depend on decisions about keeping the embassy open and the extent of a Taliban threat to the capital in coming days. diplomatic presence, including with aircraft and defensive weapons at the Kabul airport.īut the decision in recent days to dispatch 4,000 fresh troops suggested that American forces and their allies were at risk. That number has dropped to just under 1,000, and all but about 650 were scheduled to be gone by the end of the month the 650 were to remain to help protect the U.S. 31 to complete the withdrawal of the 2,500 to 3,000 troops that were in Afghanistan when he announced in April that he would end U.S. “Clearly from their actions, it appears as if they are trying to get Kabul isolated,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said, referring to the Taliban’s speedy and efficient takedown of major provincial capitals this past week.īiden had given the Pentagon until Aug. The Taliban have made major advances in recent days, including capturing Herat and Kandahar, the country’s second- and third-largest cities. On Saturday, the Taliban captured Mazar-e-Sharif, a large heavily defended city in northern Afghanistan, and closed in on Kabul by taking the Logar province just to the south. military officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the situation.Īs the situation in Afghanistan rapidly worsened, Biden, who was spending the weekend at Camp David, and Vice President Kamala Harris held a secure video conference on Saturday morning with national security officials before Biden announced the additional troops. Embassy personnel were urgently destroying sensitive documents, according to two U.S. In a sign of fears that the Taliban could soon capture Kabul, U.S. But they might have to stay longer if the embassy is threatened by a Taliban takeover of Kabul by then. Officials have stressed that the newly arriving troops’ mission was limited to assisting the airlift of embassy personnel and Afghan allies, and they expected to complete it by month’s end. The additional 1,000 troops approved Saturday appeared to bring the total to 5,000. ![]() Embassy personnel and Afghan allies as Taliban insurgents approached the outskirts of the capital. An additional contingent of Marines arrived in Kabul as part of a 3,000-troop force intended to secure an airlift of U.S. ![]() ![]() Initially 1,000 troops were in place to aid with the withdrawal, and administration officials quickly judged that total to be insufficient. But a defense official said in a media statement that the president had approved Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s recommendation that the lead battalion of the 82nd Airborne Brigade Combat Team assist in the State Department’s drawdown. In his statement Biden didn’t explain the breakdown of the 5,000 troops he said had been deployed.
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