ENDGAME AS KABUL FALLS
No transitional govt in Afghanistan; proclamation of Islamic emirate soon, say Taliban, forcing President Ghani to leave the country
KABUL: As Taliban leaders entered Kabul on Sunday, poised to retake total control of Afghanistan 20 years after they were ousted from power by the US, the insurgents said there will be no transitional government and the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan would soon be declared. That was the name of the country under the Taliban government that was toppled by Us-led foreign forces after the September 11, 2001 terror attacks in America.
Two Taliban officials told Reuters that forming a transitional government was out of the question and the group was focused only on a complete handover of power.
President Ashraf Ghani left the country after Taliban fighters entered the capital city of Kabul earlier on Sunday.
On a day when Kabul fell into the hands of the Taliban, the United Nations refugee agency said more than 550,000 people in Afghanistan have fled their homes due to the conflict since the start of this year. An update published on Sunday by Genevabased UNHCR shows about 126,000 people were displaced in the previous month to August 9.
“There is a need to support
Athe humanitarian response in the country,” Shabia Mantoo told The Associated Press.
While America faces criticism for the deepening crisis, US secretary of state Antony Blinken rejected comparisons to the US pull-out from Vietnam, as many watched in disbelief at the sight of helicopters landing in the embassy compound to take diplomats to a new outpost at Kabul international airport. “This is manifestly not Saigon,” Blinken told ABC. parliament will be recalled for one day on Wednesday to debate the government’s response to the crisis. PM Boris Johnson also called a meeting of his cabinet’s emergency committee.