Merkel says Afghan army collapsed at “impressive pace”

by

German Chancellor Angela Merkel gestures as she speaks during a CDU / CSU campaign that kicks off before the federal election at Tempodrom in Berlin, Germany, on August 21, 2021. REUTERS / Annegret Hilse

BERLIN, Aug. 21 (Reuters) – German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Saturday conceded that the Afghan army’s resistance to Taliban militants had been misjudged.

“The army collapsed at an impressive rate,” Merkel said at an election event. “We had expected the resistance to be stronger.”

Merkel said she was now focusing on rescuing people from Afghanistan, but later there would be a discussion about what had been achieved or not.

The Taliban seized the Afghan capital, Kabul, on Sunday after a lightning strike across the country that shocked the West.

Report by Andreas Rinke, written by Tom Sims, edited by Nick Macfie

Our standards: the principles of trust of Thomson Reuters.

.Source