A new assessment by the US intelligence community concluded that the Afghan government could collapse as soon as sixth months after the US military withdrawal from the country, The Wall Street Journal said.  

The revised assessment cut short the previously reported more optimistic assessment where it predicted the period of at least a year. This came after the Taliban gained momentum in the last few weeks, seizing dozens of districts and surrounding major cities in the country’s north and east. 

Afghan security forces frequently surrendered without a fight, leaving their Humvees and other American-supplied equipment to the insurgents.

Importantly, the assessment is more aligned with those of the US military. US forces have already withdrawn more than half of its 3,500 troops and its equipment and could complete it by as early as 15 July. However, given the extremely volatile security situation, Pentagon this week hinted at slowing down and calibrating the pace of withdrawal. 

On Wednesday, the insurgents were already battling Afghan forces inside the northern city of Kunduz, bordering Tajikistan. The Taliban confirmed capturing a border outpost, a dry port, on the Tajikistan border. Tajikistan’s border service said 134 Afghan troops at the crossing were granted refuge while some 100 others were killed or captured by the Taliban.

Although the group hasn’t seized any provincial capital in the country, it has surrounded several of them. Several local militias, along with armed groups, have sprung up in the country’s northern areas within a week as the fear of a Taliban takeover grew. 
 
(SAM)