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Taliban insurgents occupied Afghanistan’s second and third largest cities.
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres called on the Taliban on Friday to immediately stop its offensive in Afghanistan and warned that “Afghanistan is out of control”.
“Now is the time to stop the offensive. This is the time to start serious negotiations. This is the time to avoid a prolonged civil war or the isolation of Afghanistan,” Guterres told reporters in New York.
With the collapse of government resistance, the Taliban insurgents have occupied Afghanistan’s second and third largest cities, raising concerns that an attack on the capital, Kabul, may only last for a few days.
Guterres called on all parties to take more measures to protect civilians.
He also said, “Early signs that the Taliban impose strict restrictions on human rights in areas under its control, especially for women and journalists, and he is deeply disturbed by this.”
“It is especially frightening and heartbreaking to see reports of Afghan girls and women being denied their hard-earned rights,” he said.
A UN spokesperson said earlier on Friday that the UN is assessing the security situation in Afghanistan “hourly” and transferring some staff to the capital Kabul, but no one has been evacuated from the country.
Spokesperson Stephane Dujarric told reporters that this world institution has “very small footprint” in some areas occupied by the Taliban. It has approximately 3,000 national staff and approximately 300 international staff in Afghanistan.
The United States will send about 3,000 more soldiers to help evacuate the staff of the US Embassy, and the United Kingdom will deploy about 600 soldiers to help its citizens evacuate. Other embassies, including the embassies of the Netherlands, Germany and Norway, as well as aid groups say they are also letting their people leave.
The United Nations stated that since the beginning of this year, nearly 400,000 people have been displaced by conflict in various parts of Afghanistan. Dujarik said that between July 1 and August 12, 10,350 internally displaced persons arrived in Kabul.
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