Last year, the United States reportedly urged Afghanisation to release 5,000 Taliban prisoners — many of whom are now terrorizing the nation.
Violence in Afghanistan is rising as the United States seeks an end to its two-decade war in the region. For the past several months, Taliban forces have seized much of the country and executed Afghan military officials who once aided American troops.
A suicide attack on Tuesday targeted the residence of acting Defense Minister Bismillah Khan Mohammadi, which is located in a secure, upscale area of Kabul that is home to several other government officials. Gunmen reportedly exchanged fire after the explosion.
However, The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday that many Taliban insurgents currently aiding in the conquest of Afghanistan were once prisoners of the American-backed Afghan government:
The Taliban commander overseeing an assault on the key southern city of Lashkargah is one of 5,000 former prisoners released by the Afghan government last year under pressure from the U.S., Afghan and Western officials say.
The commander, Mawlavi Talib, is one of thousands of former prisoners freed to further peace talks who have returned to the battlefield to join the Taliban onslaught against cities around the country, Afghan officials say. The presence of the Taliban fighters is a fresh strain in relations between Washington and Kabul, as the U.S.-backed government struggles to fend off Taliban attacks throughout the country.
Under Mr. Talib’s command, hundreds of Taliban have pushed toward the city center over the past week. On Tuesday they launched an attack on Lashkargah’s prison in a bid to release more inmates and recruit them into the fight.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani on Tuesday to “reiterate the strong and enduring U.S. commitment to Afghanistan.” Both leaders “condemned the ongoing Taliban attacks, which show little regard for human life and human rights, and deplored the loss of innocent Afghan lives and displacement of the civilian population.”
As The Daily Wire’s Joseph Curl summarized earlier this year, those who support ending the Afghanistan conflict largely agree with President Biden’s assertion that the war “was never meant to be a multigenerational undertaking.” Meanwhile, those who would rather continue the conflict largely agree with retired General Jack Keane’s argument that “we ended the war in Iraq prematurely and we got ISIS.”