KABUL, Afghanistan - Taliban fighters took control of Afghanistan's capital on Sunday as the Afghan government collapsed, President Ashraf Ghani fled and the long-dominant American presence seemed to come to an abrupt and chaotic end after 20 years, with tens of thousands of people trying to flee. Taliban insurgents have seized the presidential palace in Kabul after seizing control across the country earlier this week. The Taliban will return to power in Afghanistan after nearly 20 years of displacement by US-led troops as Ashraf Ghani, the country's president, flew the country on a plane and the group captured control of the Afghan capital in a rapid offensive. The Taliban have taken control of Afghanistan's presidential palace after two senior Taliban commanders, present in Kabul today just hours after they entered the capital, told Reuters on Sunday, that diplomats and locals were in no hurry to leave the country. The Taliban leadership in the presidential palace had been negotiating a transfer of power, but Shaheen told Al Jazeera on Sunday that the group was seeking "unconditional surrender" from the Afghan government, which appeared to be the case on Sunday when Afghan President Ashraf Ghani left Kabul and flew to Tajikistan. On Sunday, both Ghani and his vice president Amarullah Saleh left the country after the Taliban announced they were visiting the outskirts of Kabul to negotiate a peaceful surrender with the western government.
Al Jazeera reported it interviewed Taliban fighters inside the abandoned presidential palace in Kabul who said that they were working to secure the capital until the Qatari leader returned. A Taliban official said the group had declared the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. The official said that the group in Kabul had announced that the palace was intended for the restoration of the Islamic emirate, the country's official name under Taliban rule after the militants were driven out of the 9-11 attacks by the U.S.-backed forces orchestrated by al-Qaida while protecting the Taliban. The Taliban entered Kabul on Sunday, US diplomats left the embassy and evacuated Kabul airport. The U.S. Embassy reported a security threat and ordered citizens to move to safety when the Afghan government appeared to fall to Taliban and the U.S. government withdraws from the region. Smoke rises from the U.S. Embassy in Kabul on August 15 as Taliban fighters enter the outskirts of the Afghan capital. Taliban forces have advanced across the country in recent weeks.
Taliban fighters captured control of the presidential palace in Afghanistan after Afghan President Ashraf Ghani fled from the country on Sunday, August 15. On August 15, 2021, the former president Ashraf Ghani fled Afghanistan to Tajikistan after the Taliban offensive and capture of the capital. His departure has created a situation in which there are now two candidates for the presidency: Ghani as president in exile and Abdul Ghani Baradar as de facto president.
Taliban co-founder Mullah Baradar ousted the Afghan president in Kabul and then carried out a bloodless takeover before Ghanis boarded the plane. Taliban fighters have arrived at Kabul side, a senior official in the Interior Ministry told the Reuters news agency, amid reports of sporadic shelling in the capital. A recent U.S. intelligence assessment this week said Kabul had been encircled for 30 days and would fall to the Taliban within 90 days after the group captured most of the country's major cities in less than a week and reached the capital on Sunday.
Taliban officials said they had received reports of clashes across the country in the days since armed groups seized the capital Kabul and the country's collapse. Photos and videos posted on social media showed Kabul at a standstill as thousands of people tried to flee the city for fear of a return to extremist Taliban rule. The Taliban captured most of the country after the withdrawal of the US and other foreign troops in a lightning offensive. Insurgents took over the nearby Torkham border post with Pakistan and left Kabul Airport into government hands, the only way into inland Afghanistan. During the Five-Year Rule of the previous emirate, only a handful of countries recognized Afghanistan, and the Taliban imposed a strict interpretation of the Sharia law.
After the surrender of Afghan troops, the Taliban seized weapons supplied by US forces, and the US carried out attacks on captured military equipment to prevent surrender to Afghan forces. Two Turkish security sources said that Turkey has abandoned plans to take control of Kabul Airport after NATO pulls out, but is ready to offer technical and security support if the Taliban demand it, citing Turkish sources. The Taliban continue to pose a threat to U.S. personnel with a possible attack on Kabul Airport, but the White House has promised to respond with a show of strength. Up to 10,000 people, including 2,500 Afghan aid workers, as well as human rights activists, lawyers and others from Germany, see no danger in remaining in the country following the Taliban conquest of Kabul.
The Russian Embassy in Kabul said that Afghan President Ashraf Ghani fled Afghanistan in four cars and a helicopter full of cash, leaving behind money because it did not fit, according to RIA news agency. A joint declaration calling on all those involved in the events in Afghanistan to respect and facilitate the departure of foreign nationals and Afghans wanting to leave the country states that all roads, airports and border crossings should remain open and should remain calm. "All powers and authorities in Afghanistan bear responsibility and responsibility for the protection of human life and property and for the immediate restoration of security and civil order.
