진격의 탈레반 (Al Jazeera)

Taliban seizes eighth Afghan provincial capital in five days

*주요내용

The Taliban has captured two more cities in Afghanistan, taking the number of provincial capitals the group has seized since Friday to eight. On Tuesday, the Taliban captured Pul-e Khumri, the capital of Baghlan province and about 200km (125 miles) north of Kabul. The capture of Pul-e-Khumri gave the Taliban a trifecta of bordering northern provinces.  This now gives them control of almost the entire 378-km road from Kabul to the northeastern province of Badakhshan. That road is a major transit hub for passenger and commercial vehicles and the transport of illicit goods, including narcotics. A senior EU official told the Reuters news agency on Tuesday that Taliban forces now control 65 percent of Afghan territory, are threatening to take 11 provincial capitals, and are trying to deprive Kabul of its traditional support from national forces in the north. Violence against Afghan civilians by Taliban fighters “could amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity” some 400,000 people have been internally displaced in Afghanistan in recent months. White House press secretary Jen Psaki said the Biden administration still felt that only negotiations could bring lasting peace and stability to Afghanistan.

 

탈레반은 지난 금요일부터 점령한 주도의 수를 2을 더하면서 8 지역이 되었다. 화요일에 탈레반은 Baghlan 지역의 주도이며 카불에서 200km가 떨어진 Pul-e-Khumri를 차지하면서 북부 경계지역 3개지역을 차지하게 되었다. 이는 378km에 달하는 도로, 즉 카불에서 북동부의 Badakhshan지역을 통과하는 지역을 통제권을 탈레반이 가지게 되었음을 말한다. 이길은 주요 운송로로 승객들과 상업차량 그리고 마약을 포함하는 불법 품목들이 이 도로를 통한다. 한 EU 고위관리는 화요일 로이터에 탈레반이 현제 아프간의 65프로를 차지하고 있으며, 11개의 주도를 점령하려 한다고 전했다. 또한 북부 지역의 계속되어온 정부군의 지원을 차단을 꾀하고 있다고 했다. 탈레반에 의해 자행되는 아프간인에 대한 폭력은 전쟁 범죄이며 반인권적인 범죄로 보았다. 한편, 사십만의 아프간인들이 최근 몇달동안 아프간 내에서 집을 떠나 흩어졌으며, 백안관 대변인은 바이든 행정부는 지속적인 평화와 아프간의 안정을 유지하기 위핸 유일한 방법으로 여전히 협상만을 우선시하고 있다.

 

*표현

eponymous southwestern province 동명의 남서부 지역

trifecta  삼박자

White House press secretary Jen Psaki 백악관 대변인

 

*짧평

1994년 아프간지역의 민병대로 출발한 이슬람 수니파 무장조직 탈레반은 강한 산악 민족 파쉬툰의 후예를 로써, 미국 및 연합과의 전쟁을 20년간 이어 오면서도 그 세를 잃지 않고, 대망의 미국의 철군이라는 결론을 이끌어 냈다. 이에 더해 미군의 철군이 현실이 되자, 부패와 무능으로 미국을 등에 업고도 탈레반을 압도하지 못한 정부군의 주요지역들을 금새 탈환하고 있다. 현재 수 주간에 걸친 탈레반의 공격으로 아프간의 65퍼센트 지역이 탈레반의 영향아래로 넘어 갔으며, 이 압도적인 분위기는 아마 그 위치를 더 확고하고 압도적인 위치로 굳힐 때까지 계속 될 것이다. 바야흐로 탈레반의 입장에서는 무능한 정부군에 대한 진격의 탈레반의 시대가 열린 것이다. 국제관계를 볼 때,여러가지 면에서 시사하는 바가 크다. 반 시아파를 모토로하는 수니파 원리주의자로써 국경을 맞댄 중동의 패권을 추구하는 시아파의 맹주 이란에 부담을 주게 될 것이며, 그 반대 국경은 중국 신장지역을 맞대고 있으며 같은 수니파인 위구르인들을 탄압하는 중국에 더 없이 큰 부담을 안겨주게 되었다. 산악 게릴라 전술로 최강의 군사력을 보유한 미국의 공세에도 끈질기게 버텨낸 탈레반임을 감안할 때 실재적이고 심리적인 부담감은 최고조에 달할 것이다. 그도 그럴 것이 중국이 만에하나 신장을 잃는다면, 티벳, 홍콩, 대만 등지에도 독립의 분위기가 현실화될 가능성이 크며, 이는 현 중국 공산당체제의 근간을 흔들어 체제붕괴의 위험을 내포하고 있기 때문이다. 이 두려움에 대한 반증으로 2주전 왕이 외교부장은 탈레반의 최고 지도층을 만나 상호협력을 이루며 위구르에 대한 지원은 없어야 할 것임을 분명히 했다. 중국과 국가 전방위적으로 보이지 않는 전쟁을 벌이고 있는 미국은 탈레반의 아프가니스탄을 더 할 나위 없이 좋은 카드, 즉 조커로 사용할 가능성을 배제할 수가 없다. 마치 소련과 전쟁을 벌이던 중에 미국이 아프간을 지원하였던 때와 같이. 그렇게 된다면, 아이러니하게도 미국에 의해 훈련된 탈레반 게릴라 부대를 미국이 대중국 전쟁에 특수 임무를 띤 용병으로 고용하는 샘이 되는 것이다. 중국이 세계적인 비난에도 멈추지 않는 위구르족 인권탑압을 멈추지 않는 이유가 바로 이 곳이 중국의 약한 고리이기 때문인 것이며, 이를 공격할 가장 좋은 무기가 바로 미래의 탈레반일지도 모른다. 

 

*본문

The Taliban has captured two more cities in Afghanistan, taking the number of provincial capitals the group has seized since Friday to eight.

Farah city of the eponymous southwestern province and Pul-e-Khumri of the northern province of Baghlan both fell to the armed group on Tuesday. Local sources confirmed the capture of both provincial capitals to Al Jazeera.

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“This afternoon the Taliban entered the city of Farah after briefly fighting with the security forces. They have captured the governor’s office and police headquarters,” Shahla Abubar, a member of Farah’s provincial council, told the AFP news agency on Tuesday.

The Taliban has captured the province’s central prison, according to parliamentarian Abdul Nasri Farahi.

Farah is now the second provincial city in the southwest of Afghanistan that the group has taken. On Friday, the Taliban captured neighbouring Nimruz province.

The capture of Farah also provides another border crossing into Iran for the group.

On Tuesday, the Taliban captured Pul-e-Khumri, capital of Baghlan province and about 200km (125 miles) north of Kabul, a member of parliament from the area and an army officer told AFP.

“After about two hours of fighting the security forces were overpowered and retreated,” said Mamoor Ahmadzai, the lawmaker.

The capture of Pul-e-Khumri gave the Taliban a trifecta of bordering northern provinces.

Earlier this week, the Taliban captured Kunduz and Takhar. This now gives them control of almost the entire 378-km road from Kabul to the northeastern province of Badakhshan. That road is a major transit hub for passenger and commercial vehicles and the transport of illicit goods, including narcotics.

Al Jazeera’s Rob McBride, reporting from the Afghan capital Kabul, said the fall of Pul-e-Khumri was a “significant development”.

“Significantly, this brings the fighting a lot closer to Kabul itself, and that is a concern for the government.”

The Taliban have captured eight out of 34 provincial capitals in the country in less than a week.

A senior EU official told the Reuters news agency on Tuesday that Taliban forces now control 65 percent of Afghan territory, are threatening to take 11 provincial capitals, and are trying to deprive Kabul of its traditional support from national forces in the north.

The group had already gained vast parts of rural Afghanistan since launching a series of offensives in May to coincide with the start of the final withdrawal of foreign troops.

 

In a major push to repel advancing Taliban from urban centres, the Afghan forces claimed they killed 361 Taliban fighters in air and ground offensives in the past 24 hours.

The defence ministry said the operations were conducted in the Nangarhar, Kunar, Logar, Paktia, Paktika, Maidan Wardak, Kandahar, Sar-e-Pul, Helmand, Kunduz, and Baghlan provinces.

McBride said the government was now focusing on defending larger, more strategically important provincial capitals and sending its resources there.

“It does have plans to retake some of these lesser provinces, but given the pace of the advance by the Taliban, it remains to be seen if it will put those counterattacks into effect and if they will be successful,” he said.

Widespread conflict

The Taliban have now overrun six provincial capitals in the north. They have also taken Zaranj, the capital of Nimruz province, in the southwest.

 

On Tuesday, the Taliban claimed they were closing in on Mazar-i-Sharif – the region’s biggest city and a linchpin for the government’s control of the north – after capturing Sheberghan to its west, and Kunduz city and Taluqan to its east.

Fawad Aman, spokesman for the Ministry of Defense, said the Afghan forces had the upper hand there. But residents speaking to Al Jazeera said the city’s Maulana Jalaluddin Balkhi International Airport is being overrun with hundreds of people desperate to flee.

India’s government shut its consulate in Mazar-i-Sharif on Tuesday, and urged its diplomats and Indian citizens to take a special flight home.

India, which has invested millions of dollars in development projects across Afghanistan, has now closed all its consulates, leaving only the embassy in Kabul operational, a government official said.

 

Violence against Afghan civilians by Taliban fighters “could amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity” United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet said on Tuesday, before urging a return to peace negotiations in Doha.

Al Jazeera’s McBride said that, according to a report by the EU, some 400,000 people have been internally displaced in Afghanistan in recent months.

“Quite a few of them are coming here to the relative safety of the capital, but they are putting a large strain on resources here,” McBride said.

“The Red Cross is saying that in its clinics in the past 10 days, they have been treating more than 4,000 people, civilians caught up in this conflict.”

The new wave of deadly clashes started last month when, after overrunning nearly 200 rural districts, the Taliban began assaults on major cities as they marched on Herat city, Kandahar city, Taluqan, and Lashkar Gah, causing panic and worry among millions of civilians.

 

The United States – due to complete a troop withdrawal at the end of the month and end its longest war – has all but left the battlefield.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said the Biden administration still felt that only negotiations could bring lasting peace and stability to Afghanistan.

“Ultimately, our view is that the Afghan national security defence forces have the equipment, numbers and training to fight back, which will strengthen their position at the negotiating table,” Psaki told a regular press briefing.

Washington’s special envoy Zalmay Khalilzad is now in Qatar to try and convince the Taliban to accept a ceasefire.

Omar Samad, non-resident fellow at the Atlantic Council and former spokesman for Afghanistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told Al Jazeera that the Afghan delegation from Kabul and the Taliban delegation met separately with representatives of key stakeholder countries on Tuesday.

“It is expected that this will last two more days,” Samad said, adding that “the resolution has to come from the political side.”

 

“We’ve lost a lot of time; I think that many opportunities were wasted over the last three years,” Samad said.

“I think that there’s enough blame to be shared by all sides for not really pushing sincerely for a political resolution of the problem when it was possible. Now, it’s more difficult.”

Ali M Latifi contributed to this report from Kabul, Afghanistan.

SOURCE: AL JAZEERA AND NEWS AGENCIES

 

 

*원문

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/8/10/taliban-seizes-farah-seventh-provincial-afghan-capital-in-five-days