BERLIN, Jul 5 (DPA/EP) –
The head of the German Foreign Intelligence Service (BND), Bruno Kahl, admitted on Thursday that he had miscalculated the speed of the Taliban’s advance in the summer of 2021, when they took control of the country after taking Kabul, the capital, and which has led to a major restriction of the rights of the population, especially against women, who have been excluded from public life.
“What we did not properly anticipate was the scenario that unfolded in the final moments. The fact that the speed of the Taliban increased in the final kilometres did not go unnoticed by us,” Khal told a German parliamentary committee set up to examine the handling of the withdrawal from the Asian country.
The head of German intelligence has justified the fact that for years they had a good understanding of the situation on the ground and that, like other foreign intelligence services, they believed that the Afghan forces supported by the international community would resist the Taliban for longer.
He described a series of “turning points” that led to the Afghan government’s rapid capitulation, including the “almost complete isolation” of Kabul following the capture of numerous provincial centres in its metropolitan area and the withdrawal of US forces and personnel.
The Taliban seized power in Afghanistan in August 2021 after a meteoric advance to the capital amid the flight of then Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and the chaotic withdrawal of international troops after two decades of military presence in the Asian country. Just a month later, they formed an interim government headed by Mohammad Hasan Akhund, one of the founders of the movement. Since then, they have imposed strict sharia law and restrictions on public life, especially on women and girls.
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