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Biden Administration Launches Last-Ditch Talks as Taliban Sets Sights on Kabul

Ghazni, a key strategic post just 80 miles south of Afghanistan’s capital, was taken Thursday.

The Biden administration is reportedly using all of its diplomatic might in a last-ditch attempt to convince the Taliban to pull back from its ferocious offensive across Afghanistan. The Taliban’s advance toward Kabul hastened Thursday as it seized the city of Ghazni—the 10th provincial capital now under the fundamentalist militia’s control, and one that lies just 80 miles south of Afghanistan’s capital. The Washington Post reported that diplomats from Russia, China, Europe, and several of Afghanistan’s neighbors have now gathered in Doha, Qatar, for U.S.-led meetings with Taliban officials. The reported aim of the talks is to convince the Taliban that no world power will recognize its legitimacy if it takes Afghanistan by force. U.S. military officials have been shocked by the speed of the Taliban offensive over the past week, and some have warned that Kabul—and the Afghan government—could fall within the next 30 days.