Afghanistan: Taliban push forward amid human rights fears

The Taliban pressed forward with their offensive in Afghanistan on Tuesday, taking control of the capitals of the western Farah province and the northern Baghlan province.

Farah city is the seventh provincial capital to fall to the group in less than a week. The city lies close to the Iranian border. 

Farah provincial council member Shahla Abubar said the Taliban managed to capture both the governor's office and police headquarters in the city.

The group also captured Pul-e Khomri, the capital of the Baghlan province north of Kabul, according to local officials. The city has an estimated population of nearly 250,000 people.

Taliban advancing towards Mazar-e Sharif

In another part of the country, the group was closing in on Mazar-e Sharif, the capital of the northern Balkh province with a population of over 500,000. Officials told German news agency DPA that the security situation was worsening in Afghanistan's fourth-largest city.

Fighting is also currently ongoing in the southern Pashto-speaking provinces of Kandahar and Helmand.

Taliban took control of the major city of Kunduz on Sunday, after capturing the provincial capitals of Sheberghan in the north and Zaranj in the southwest.

UN warns of war crimes

International human rights observers are warning of potential war crimes taking place as the Taliban militants continue to advance and tighten control over districts and cities.  

UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet called on the Taliban to cease their military operations in cities and to stop attacking civilians. She said Tuesday that her office was receiving reports of the group killing current and former Afghan government officials and their family members, along with other violations.

"Directing attacks against civilians is a serious violation of international humanitarian law and amounts to a war crime," she said from the UN headquarters in Geneva. "Perpetrators of serious violations of human rights and humanitarian law must be held accountable."

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said Tuesday that at least 4,000 people injured by weapons have been taken care of by its health facilities in Afghanistan since the beginning of August.

US Envoy to Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad visited Doha, Qatar on Tuesday to push the Taliban towards a cease-fire. The US official is expected to tell the group that if it takes complete control of Afghanistan by force, its government will be a pariah in the global community.

The fighting between the Taliban and the government is forcing thousands of Afghans to flee. A senior EU official said Tuesday that about 400,000 Afghans have been internally displaced by the war in recent months.

German politicians mixed about NATO pullout

The worsening security and humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan comes after US President Joe Biden and other NATO allies such as Germany agreed to pull out all troops from the country. 

Biden said on Tuesday that he had no regrets about this decision to pull all US troops out. "Afghan leaders have to come together, they've got to fight for themselves, fight for their nation," he told reporters at the White House.

German politicians have mixed feelings about the withdrawal. German Defense Minister Annagret Kramp-Karrenbauer has rejected calls to redeploy military forces in Afghanistan.

Parliamentary State Secretary at the German Defense Ministry and Bundestag member Thomas Silberhorn told DW Tuesday that the German military achieved its goals in Afghanistan.

"We focused on training and advice for the Afghan National Defense and security forces. This mandate has been accomplished, but of course, it is now up to the Afghan troops to fight for their freedom," Silberhorn, a member of the center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU), said.

"It was the decision of the US administration to leave at this point, and indeed things changed dramatically after setting a clear date for troops," he said regarding the pullout. "But there is still close air support from the United States. But indeed, without boots on the ground, it's hard to change the situation."

Another CDU Bundestag member, Patrick Sensburg, told DW that he thinks NATO "should have stayed to secure peace and to give the society a chance to learn democracy."

US expected to leave by August 31

The US invaded Afghanistan in 2001 to hunt for members of al-Qaida, the jihadist group behind the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

The Taliban was ousted from power during the invasion, with the US and NATO allies training Afghan government forces to maintain the country's security.

The US is expected to end its military mission in Afghanistan by August 31. The Pentagon suggested Monday that the US military will not yet step up airstrikes in Afghanistan amid the Taliban gains.

Zalmay Khalilzad, a US peace envoy for Afghanistan, warned Tuesday that the US would ensure any government that comes to power through force in Afghanistan will not be recognized internationally. 

wd/wmr (Reuters, AFP, dpa)