New York Times: Taliban Are Closing In On Afghan Cities

Afghan security forces at a lone outpost in Kandahar, on the edge of the Panjwai District. 

New York Times: The Taliban Close In on Afghan Cities, Pushing the Country to the Brink 

The Taliban have positioned themselves around several major population centers, including the capital of Kandahar Province, as the Biden administration weighs whether to withdraw or to stay. 

PANJWAI, Afghanistan — The Taliban have been encroaching on key cities around Afghanistan for months, threatening to drive the country to its breaking point and push the Biden administration into a no-win situation just as the United States’ longest war is supposed to be coming to an end. 

Around the northern city of Kunduz, despite the winter’s fierce cold, the Taliban have taken outposts and military bases, using small armed drones to terrorize Afghan troops. In neighboring Pul-i-Khumri, they have seized important highways in a stranglehold of the city, threatening main lifelines to Kabul, the country’s capital. 

And in the city of Kandahar, a bedrock of historic and political importance and an economic hub for the country’s south, Taliban fighters have pummeled the surrounding districts, and moved closer to taking the provincial capital than they have in more than a decade. 

The Taliban’s brazen offensive has put the Biden administration into a dangerous political bind. Under the deal struck by President Donald J. Trump with the Taliban last year, all foreign troops — including the remaining 2,500 American service members who support Afghanistan’s beleaguered army and security forces — are scheduled to withdraw by May 1, leaving the country in an especially precarious state. 

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Update #1: Biden has no good options on Afghanistan with deadline for troop withdrawal looming (CNN) 

Update #2: Keeping Troops in Afghanistan Makes America Safer (Bloomberg) 

WNU Editor: Judging by the above media reports, the push is on to convince the Biden administration to renege on former President Trump's peace deal with the Taliban, and keep US military forces in Afghanistan pass their May 1 withdrawal date. My prediction. U.S. forces are not going to leave.