By Theodore Shoebat

Now that the American power vacuum is left open, the Taliban is fighting to takeover and just slaughtered 24 soldiers in just less than an hour, as we read in the New York Times:

At least 24 Afghan commandos and five police officers were killed after they were surrounded by the Taliban in northern Afghanistan on Wednesday, according to local and Afghan military officials. It was a profound blow to the elite force at a time when such troops often serve as the only units keeping the insurgents from capturing more territory.

The vicious battle took place in the early morning hours in a key district of Faryab Province. The Taliban seized Dawlat Abad district roughly a week ago — one of the dozens that have fallen since American and international forces began withdrawing from the country last month.

“When the Taliban came to Dawlat Abad, they surrounded the commandos and killed them in less than an hour,” said Mohammad Hakim, a militia commander who escaped the district.

What happened in Faryab is playing out in districts across the country, at an alarming rate. Tolo News, a national media outlet in the country, reported fighting in 80 of Afghanistan’s roughly 400 districts in the country Thursday.

The rise of the Taliban is very convenient for Turkey who now wants to be the military force to take America’s place. Turkey, currently, has been talking about just guarding the Kabul airport. But, with Turkey acting as NATO’s fighting force in Afghanistan, Taliban violence would then give Ankara the pretext to conduct a massive deployment troop deployment.