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U.S. envoy warns Taliban of international cutoff if Afghanistan is taken by force
Zalmay Khalilzad, the United States' special representative on Afghanistan reconciliation, warned the Taliban in Doha, Qatar, Tuesday that any government formed by force will not be recognized internationally, according to AP.
Why it matters: Nine out of 34 Afghan provincial capitals have fallen to the Taliban in recent days as the U.S. military withdraws, raising fears that the Afghan military will be unable to hold off the insurgent group.
- Khalilzad and the Biden administration are attempting to pressure the Taliban to negotiate a power-sharing agreement with the Afghan government to stabilize the country and prevent further violence and civilian causalities.
- The capitals of Farah, Baghlan and Badakshan provinces fell to the Taliban on Tuesday, according to the New York Times.
The big picture: Afghan Foreign Minister Haneef Atmar called for sanctions against Taliban leadership in response to the provincial seizures, saying they violated commitments that the group gave to the U.S. in 2020.
- “The world community should come together to stop Taliban attacks on cities. This is a threat to international peace and security, not just a threat to Afghanistan,” Atmar told the Wall Street Journal.
- “Attacks on cities will have destabilizing consequences for the region and the international community—not only by sending refugees but also with the arrival of more foreign fighters to Afghanistan, which will pave the ground for other terrorist groups to come.”
The U.S. intelligence community has warned that the Afghan government could collapse as soon as next year as the Taliban's battlefield offensive grows.
- President Biden has called those assessments "wrong," saying the Afghan military outnumbers the Taliban and is better equipped.
- On Tuesday, Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said the Afghan military would need to halt the Taliban's encroachment.
- “These are their military forces, these are their provincial capitals, their people to defend and it’s really going to come down to the leadership that they’re willing to exude here at this particular moment,” he said.
Go deeper: State Department urges U.S. citizens to leave Afghanistan
Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan invest $300 million in election infrastructure
Priscilla Chan and Mark Zuckerberg are putting up $300 million to promote "safe and reliable voting in states and localities" amid the pandemic, the Center for Tech and Civic Life and Center for Election Innovation & Research will announce Tuesday.
What they're saying: "The more I've focused on this election, the more important I've felt it is both to make sure local counties and states have the resources they need to handle these unprecedented conditions, and that people are aware that the infrastructure is in place to make every vote count so they can accept the result of the election as legitimate," Zuckerberg told Axios.
- In the joint release, Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson (D) said: "This grant will be of tremendous assistance as we work to get the word out to voters."
- Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose (R) said Americans need voting information "from trusted sources, and these dollars are going to go a long way to making that happen."
The Facebook CEO and his wife committed $250 million to CTCL, which will use the money to help local jurisdictions with staffing, training and equipment.
- Chan and Zuckerberg committed $50 million to CEIR to assist state and local election officials in making sure elections are secure, and voters have confidence in the outcomes.



