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1 1 (August 16, 2021)

handle is hein.crs/goveein0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Congressional RResearch Service Taliban Establish Control Over Afghanistan Amid Government Collapse and U.S. Withdrawal August 16, 2021 On August 15, 2021, Taliban fighters entered Afghanistan's capital, Kabul, effectively reestablishing the group's rule over the country after a nearly two-decade-long insurgency against U.S. and international forces and the former Afghan government. Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and many other senior Afghan leaders have fled the country, though as of August 16 Ghani has not resigned. The collapse of the Afghan government comes as the U.S. military withdrawal, started under President Donald Trump, was nearing completion at the direction of President Joseph Biden. The Taliban's victory in Afghanistan, the speed of which has shocked many Afghans and other observers, has political, security, and humanitarian implications. The evacuation of U.S. citizens and Afghan partners is seen as of particular urgency. Background: Taliban Advance The Taliban ruled most of Afghanistan from 1996 until their defeat by U.S., international, and U.S.- backed Afghan forces in 2001 in response to the Taliban's harboring of Al Qaeda, the Islamist terrorist group that carried out the 9/11 attacks. The Taliban later regrouped and began an insurgency that by October 2018 (the last time the U.S. government made such data publicly available) had come to control or contest as much as 40% of the country. In Februay 2020, the U. S. government reached an agreement with the Taliban to withdraw U. S. troops by May 2021 (later changed to August) in return for counterterrorism guarantees by the Taliban. Talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban began in September 2020 but made little progress, and the Afghan government was not part of the February agreement. In early May 2021, the Taliban began a sweeping advance across Afghanistan, quickly capturing vast swaths of rural areas. The group captured its first provincial capital on August 6, 2021, and rapidly began taking control of cities across the country by defeating U.S. -backed Afghan government forces and by compelling (sometimes through negotiations) the surrender or departure of those forces. The Taliban freed prisoners and seized weapons and other military materiel (much of it U.S. -supplied) during their offensive, which culminated in the takeover of Kabul. The Taliban reportedly faced little resistance in moving into the capital. Observers and U.S. officials have offered numerous explanations for why the Congressional ResearchService https://crsreports.congress.gov IN11725 CRS INSIGHT Prepared for Membersand Committeesof Congress

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