Taliban Take Jalalabad, Close in on Kabul, as Biden's Withdrawal Fails and Afghanistan Collapses

The Taliban easily seized Jalalabad early Sunday, placing Afghanistan’s capital of Kabul, 80 miles to the east, in imminent danger. The fifth-largest in Afghanistan, Jalalabad was the last major city standing besides Kabul across the nation.

As the Islamic terrorists’ rampage across the country continues, territory controlled by the Afghan government has shrunk to just a half-dozen provincial capitals.

President Joe Biden’s unnecessary withdrawal of U.S. troops continues to be catastrophic and embarrassing, forcing the United States to now send in more troops to help evacuate its civilians. Biden on Saturday authorized the deployment of 5,000 troops — nearly double what the U.S had before his surrender began this summer  — to ensure an “orderly and safe” drawdown of military personnel.

Former CIA Director and retired Army general David Petraeus called the deteriorating security situation in Afghanistan “disastrous and catastrophic.”

“We are now in a situation where the Taliban are trying to encircle Kabul before hundreds of thousands of refugees starting flooding into it,” Petraeus told WABC radio. “If we communicate effectively with the Taliban that they need to halt what they are doing, or we will bring the might of the U.S. military down upon them, we can stop this. This is an enormous national security setback and it is on the verge of getting much worse unless we decide to take really significant action.”

Related: CNN: Afghanistan’s Fall Is a Neville Chamberlain-esque Failure and It’s Joe Biden’s Fault

Taliban fighters also entered and took over the crucial city of Mazar-i-Sharif Saturday, virtually unopposed, as Afghan security forces fled north to Uzbekistan.

Biden is facing rising criticism — even from media allies — as the Taliban takes cities far more quickly than predicted.

“President Biden’s top advisers concede they were stunned by the rapid collapse of the Afghan army in the face of an aggressive, well-planned offensive by the Taliban that now threatens Kabul, Afghanistan’s capital,” the New York Times said. “The past 20 years show they should not have been.”

Republicans who are amicable with Biden are also enraged with the ongoing tragedy.

“Democrats like to wax poetic a lot about what my dad would have done and said. Let me tell you one god damn thing – he would be raging in public and to President Biden about this withdrawal in Afghanistan. Raging,” Megan McCain tweeted. “This is an absolutely shameful moment for our country. Shame on this administration. God be with our allies and the women and children in Afghanistan.”