On The Ground In Kabul: The 'Barometric Pressure Is Dropping' In Afghanistan As U.S. Troops Withdraw

The U.S. military is physically withdrawing from Afghanistan, and Afghan nationals who aided the American military are trying to evacuate as the Taliban gains ground in remote areas. GBH News analyst Charlie Sennott called into Boston Public Radio on Monday from Kabul, Afghanistan, to give a sense of the situation on the ground.

Sennott, formerly a Middle East bureau chief for the Boston Globe covering the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, said the nation is in a moment of "tremendous uncertainty."

"You can really feel sort of the barometric pressure dropping with the U.S. pullout underway," said Sennott. "The situation on the ground is, you don't see U.S. military on the streets the way you used to see them."

"This place has always lived with violence, it's always lived with a great deal of nerve-wracking fighting going on with the Taliban for many many years," he said, but added that this moment, as the Taliban surges in outer provinces, feels unique in just how much is changing quickly.

Sennott, who was last in the country in 2016, said that while the Taliban is gaining ground outside the cities, it still feels relatively normal in metropolitan areas.

"[There's a] really strange mix of inspiring and hopeful commitment and endurance to sort of daily life going on: the vegetable markets are there, you see the butchers on the street, you see people out and about and shopping, and then ... this feeling of tremendous uncertainty with a total lack of U.S. military presence, and many questions about what that's going to mean in the weeks and months ahead," said Sennott.

Human rights groups and monitors in Afghanistan are reporting a rise in civilian casualties and executions, with the Taliban responsible for the bulk of the offenses. Sennott said his reporting so far reflects a sense that "the Taliban is going to be a part of the future of Afghanistan."

"I spoke today to a young man who was very openly in favor of the Taliban and he felt like the Taliban has changed," said Sennott, noting that footage coming out of Afghanistan showing beheadings and the slaughter of surrendering troops, shows "completely the opposite."

"I think the young people who are educated here, like the young man I spoke with, he said to me that yes he supports some of the aspects of the Taliban — a sense of traditional Islam, of living by Sharia — but that he would never tolerate girls not to be educated or women not to be in the workplace, and that no one his age would support that."

75% of Afghans are 25 years old or younger, said Sennott.

While the Taliban has gained ground in remote areas of the country, Sennott said he doesn't believe "they are going to come into power and surge into taking over Kabul any time soon."

"The clearest assessment I have is a shift in strategy, that the Afghan national army and security forces here have decided they're going to concentrate on the urban centers, and that's going to mean letting go of some of the outposts in more distant regions," he said.

Charlie Sennott is a GBH News analyst and founder and CEO of the Groundtruth Project.