A senior US military official said that Washington does not rule out the outbreak of a civil war in Afghanistan after the withdrawal of US forces from it, while an American intelligence assessment suggested the collapse of the Kabul government within 6 months of the withdrawal, in light of the Taliban’s control of more Afghan areas.

The Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley, said today, Wednesday, during a session of the Armed Services Committee in the US House of Representatives, that among the worst possible scenarios after the US withdrawal from Afghanistan, is the outbreak of civil war there, the collapse and division of the government, and the division of the Afghan army. .

Milley expressed concern about the Taliban’s control of some areas in Afghanistan, stressing that the US military is monitoring the situation.

But he made it clear that the duty to defend Afghanistan falls on the Afghan army and police forces, noting that the number of these forces is 300,000 men.

During the same session, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said that Taliban attacks would not threaten the complete withdrawal from Afghanistan, adding, “We are focused on the task assigned to us, which is to implement the withdrawal in a safe, orderly and responsible manner.”

Austin added that the Taliban controls 20% of the Afghan district centers; But it did not capture major cities.

He added that the Taliban movement has made increasing gains across Afghanistan, and these gains have been consolidated recently.

The American minister said that his country is in the process of transitioning to a bilateral relationship with Afghan partners, and will not require a greater American presence than it needs to protect American diplomats there.

And the US Central Command announced, yesterday, Tuesday, that Washington has completed more than 50% of the stages of withdrawal from Afghanistan.

The Central Command said that the United States handed over 6 military facilities to the Afghan Ministry of Defense, and expects to transfer more military bases and equipment to the Afghan Ministry of Defense in the future to help it achieve stability and defense of Afghanistan.

US intelligence assessment

In this context, The Wall Street Journal reported today, Wednesday, that US intelligence reached the conclusion that the Afghan government could collapse 6 months or a year after the completion of the withdrawal of US forces.

The newspaper said that the intelligence revised its assessment after the Taliban invaded northern Afghanistan last week, taking control of dozens of sites and besieging large cities.

She added that Taliban fighters are facing government forces inside the city of Kunduz (northern Afghanistan), after they took control of the most important border crossing with Tajikistan, and after they reached the outskirts of Mazar-i-Sharif.

The Wall Street Journal indicated that the gains made by the Taliban worried the White House, and made it call on the army to ease the pace of withdrawal, with the possibility that this would include keeping Bagram base (north of Kabul) open now.

White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki declined to comment on the newspaper’s story about the collapse of the Afghan government within 6 months after the US withdrawal.

Psaki added in a daily briefing that she does not expect any change in the date of the withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan, noting that the matter will be discussed between US Presidents Joe Biden and Afghan Ashraf Ghani.

Psaki noted that Washington has reached an assessment that its forces would have been attacked had it not begun to withdraw from Afghanistan.

Russia warns of civil war

Meanwhile, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said today that there are fears of a recurrence of civil war after the withdrawal of NATO forces from Afghanistan.

Shoigu added – during his participation in the Moscow International Security Conference – that the renewal of the civil war will have negative repercussions, which are manifested in a further deterioration in the lives of the population, mass migration, and the spread of extremism to neighboring countries.

The Russian minister called for the involvement of the Collective Security Treaty Organization, saying that it would be impossible to untie the Afghan knot without dealing with Islamabad and Tehran.

Shoigu also believed that for 20 years, NATO had not been able to achieve significant results in stabilizing and forming stable government structures in Afghanistan.

In simultaneous statements, the Kremlin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, expressed his country’s concern about the rise in tension in Afghanistan with the foreign military withdrawal from there.

cease-fire

For his part, Afghan Foreign Minister Hanif Atmar called today for a comprehensive and lasting ceasefire in Afghanistan, stressing that Qatar plays a very important role in promoting the Afghan peace process.

Atmar had previously said that the withdrawal of foreign forces would be completed in two weeks.

US President Joe Biden is scheduled to receive his Afghan counterpart Ashraf Ghani on Friday.

It is expected that the repercussions of the US withdrawal on the security situation in Afghanistan will be at the forefront of the first talks of its kind between the two presidents, since Biden took office at the beginning of this year.