TALIBAN Facing ‘Existential Crisis’: Biden

AS rights activists remain worried about ultra-conservative Talibans taking over the reins in Kabul, US President Joe Biden, under fire for withdrawal of the army without making any security cover for the Afghans and other nationals,  says, “the Talibans have not changed but are going through an “existential crisis” about whether they want legitimacy on the global stage”. In an interview on ABC’s “Good Morning America,” Biden said that he’s not sure whether the Taliban want to be “recognized by the international community as being a legitimate government. The threat from al-Qaida and their affiliate organizations are “greater in other parts of the world than it is in Afghanistan. It is  “not rational” to ignore the “looming problems” posed by al-Qaida affiliates in Syria or East Africa where he said the threat to the US is “significantly greater. ”We should be focusing on where the threat is the greatest,” Biden said defending the US withdrawal from Afghanistan. The Biden dispensation has meanwhile announced that the evacuees are not required to get a negative COVID-19 result to travel to come to their destination from Afghanistan. Afghanistan despite being a covid-19 hotspot, rules have been waived for relocating from the country in view of extraordinary development there. Protesters against Taliban rule were met with violence by fighters for a second straight day on Tuesday, according to AP. The Pentagon said on Thursday that more than 5,200 total US troops are on the ground and that roughly 7,000 people have been airlifted out of the country since evacuations began on August 14, ABC News reports. The UN has called on countries to halt all forcible returns of Afghan refugees and said it is temporarily relocating a third of its international staff in Kabul due to “the volatile situation in the country”. Edited by PKC