145 - Reporting On The Ground @ Afghanistan | Hizbullah Khan, Journalist | Velina's Talk

The Taliban were removed from power in Afghanistan by US-led forces in  2001, but the group has seized control of the country once again  following a rapid offensive.  The capital, Kabul, was the last major city to fall to the offensive  that began months ago but accelerated as the hardline Islamists gained  control of territories.  The group entered direct talks with the US back in 2018, and in February  2020 the two sides struck a peace deal that committed the US to  withdrawal and the Taliban to preventing attacks on US forces. Other  promises included not allowing al-Qaeda or other militants to operate in  areas it controlled and proceeding with national peace talks.  The promise made by the Taliban - in Pashtun areas straddling Pakistan  and Afghanistan - was to restore peace and security and enforce their  own austere version of Sharia, or Islamic law, once in power.  Having outlasted a superpower through two decades of war, the Taliban  began seizing vast swathes of territory, before once again toppling a  government in Kabul in the wake of a foreign power withdrawing.  They swept across Afghanistan in just 10 days, taking their first  provincial capital on 6 August . By 15 August, they were at the gates of  Kabul.