Taliban insurgents stormed Kabul today, as the US evacuated diplomats from its embassy by helicopter and a government minister said that authority would be transferred to an interim administration. Taliban fighters were pouring “from all directions” toward the city, a senior interior ministry official told Reuters, but gave no further specifics. There have been no reports of brawls.
In a statement, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid stated the organisation is in talks with the government over a negotiated surrender of Kabul.
“Taliban fighters will be stationed at all Kabul entrances until a peaceful and satisfactory transfer of power is agreed upon,” according to the statement. The Taliban’s return into the capital is the culmination of a lightning offensive by the Taliban, who were driven out of Kabul by the US after the September 11 attacks 20 years ago.
Diplomats have been astonished by the Afghan government’s collapse; just last week, a US intelligence estimate predicted Kabul could hold out for at least three months.
President Ashraf Ghani, who announced on Saturday that he was in urgent meetings with local leaders and foreign partners on the situation, had no immediate comment on the situation. According to reports, he was planning to stand down and hand over power to a Taliban commander.
The government’s acting interior minister, Abdul Sattar Mirzakawal, announced in a tweet on the Tolo news station that power would be handed over to a transitional administration. “There will not be an attack on the city; it has been agreed on a peaceful transfer,” he added without going into detail.
Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the chief of the Taliban’s political department, is on his way to Kabul from Doha, according to a Taliban source in Qatar’s capital. Fire was heard at a number of locations throughout Kabul, according to a tweet from the Afghan presidential palace account, but security forces, working with international partners, held control of the city. Residents reported several of Kabul’s streets were clogged with automobiles and people rushing home or to the airport. “Some folks have left their keys in the car and are walking to the airport,” a local told Reuters over the phone.
“People are all heading home in fear of conflict,” said another. In recent days, Afghans have fled the regions for Kabul, fearing a return to extreme Islamist rule.
Early Sunday, families and refugees from Taliban-controlled districts were spotted offloading possessions from cabs outside embassy gates, while the city’s downtown was filled with people stocking up on supplies.
Choppers at US Embassy to Evacuate Officials
Diplomats were carried to the airport by helicopters from the US embassy in the fortified Wazir Akbar Khan neighbourhood, according to US authorities. After the Taliban’s push brought the Islamist group to Kabul in a matter of days, more American forces were ordered to assist with the evacuations. A US official stated that “core” US team members were working from Kabul airport, while a NATO official indicated that several EU staff had relocated to a safer, secret location in the capital. Earlier on Sunday, the militants took control of one of the main roadways into landlocked Afghanistan by capturing the eastern city of Jalalabad without a fight.
They also grabbed control of the adjoining Torkham border station with Pakistan, leaving Kabul airport as the last remaining government-controlled exit point from Afghanistan. “There are no clashes in Jalalabad right now since the governor has surrendered to the Taliban,” an Afghan official in Jalalabad told Reuters. “The only option to preserve civilian lives was to allow the Taliban access.”
The Taliban campaign increased when US-led forces withdrew the majority of their remaining troops in the last month, as the Afghan military’s defences appeared to be crumbling.
President Joe Biden authorised the deployment of 5,000 US troops on Saturday to assist with the evacuation of people and to ensure a “orderly and safe” military drawdown.
This included 1,000 newly approved troops from the 82nd Airborne Division, according to a US defence official.
Taliban says, they are popularly accepted by Afghan People
The Taliban stated in a statement late Saturday that its swift advances demonstrated that it was widely supported by Afghans, and that both Afghans and foreigners will be safe. The Taliban’s Islamic Emirate, as it is known, “will, as always, safeguard their lives, property, and honour, and establish a calm and secure environment for its loving population,” it added, adding that diplomats and humanitarian workers would have no problems. In discussions in Qatar, Mr. Biden said his government informed Taliban officials that any action putting US people in danger “would be met with a rapid and forceful US military reaction.”
As the Taliban have conquered city after city considerably more swiftly than expected, he has faced increasing domestic criticism. The US president has stayed true to his Republican predecessor, Donald Trump’s, pledge to finish the US military mission in Afghanistan by August 31. Mr. Biden stated that it is up to the Afghan soldiers to maintain control of their own territory.
On Saturday, Mr Biden said, “An unending American presence in the middle of another country’s civil turmoil was not acceptable to me.” Qatar, which has hosted so far fruitless peace talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban, said it has asked the insurgents to put down their weapons.
