Kabul control slips in Afghanistan amid US talks with Taliban

The Kabul government is steadily losing its grip over parts of Afghanistan even as American forces intensify their air campaign against insurgent groups, a US government watchdog said Thursday.

The latest grim assessment of Afghanistan's security situation comes as the US pursues talks with the Taliban and urgently seeks a way out of the 17-year war.

Numbers provided by Resolute Support, the US-led NATO mission in Afghanistan, show that as of October 31, only 63.5 per cent of Afghans are living in areas controlled or influenced by the Kabul government -- down from 65.2 per cent the previous quarter.

According to the US Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), which compiled the data, the decrease came as Kabul's control or influence over Afghan districts dropped.

SIGAR said just 53.8 per cent of Afghanistan's 407 districts are in government hands, and experts on Afghanistan say the number is lower still.

Instead of looking at population metrics, the Pentagon in a response to SIGAR said it is more important to "focus on the principal goal of the strategy of concluding the war in Afghanistan on terms favourable to Afghanistan and the United States."
However, the Taliban have so far refused another key US demand -- that they talk to the internationally recognized government in Kabul, which the insurgents view as American "puppets."
Ryan Crocker, a former US ambassador to multiple nations including Afghanistan, said in an opinion piece in The Washington Post that US negotiations with the Taliban are akin to "surrender."