Afghan government falls; Taliban take over Kabul
President flees; chaos at airport as Americans evacuate
KABUL, Afghanistan — Taliban fighters took control of Kabul on Sunday as the Afghan government collapsed, President Ashraf Ghani fled and the long-dominant American presence appeared to be coming to an abrupt and chaotic end after nearly 20 years.
The takeover of the sprawling capital city had been years in the making but was ultimately accomplished in a single day. Insurgent fighters, fresh off their conquests in each of Afghanistan’s provincial hubs, faced little to no resistance as they entered the city through its major traffic arteries on Sunday morning.
By evening, the Taliban were giving television interviews in the presidential palace, just hours after Mr. Ghani had departed Afghanistan. And the Pentagon was speeding an additional 1,000 troops to Kabul’s airport to assist with the withdrawal of U.S. personnel after the American flag was lowered from the embassy.
U.S. personnel at the embassy in Afghanistan were being relocated to the airport to “ensure they can operate safely and securely”
as the Taliban encircled Kabul, Secretary of State Antony Blinken told ABC News on Sunday. Acting U.S. ambassador Ross Wilson was among those moved to the airport amid a frenzied rush for flights out of the country.
Asked about comparisons to the United States’ departure from Vietnam in 1975, Mr. Blinken said
on ABC News’ “This Week” that “this is manifestly not Saigon.”
Later on Sunday, the U.S. Embassy released a security alert warning of reports the airport was taking fire and instructing U.S. citizens to shelter in place.
Mr. Ghani did not appear publicly on Sunday. But on his Facebook page, he posted a message explaining the Taliban had given him no choice but to depart the country. “In order to avoid a flood of blood, I thought it was best to get out,” he said.
Abdullah Abdullah, the head of the Afghan High Council for National Reconciliation, had earlier confirmed in a video shared online that the president was no longer in Afghanistan.
Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid initially said in a statement the group’s fighters had been instructed to stay at the entrance to Kabul and not push further into the city with force. “We want to enter Kabul with peace, and talks are underway” with the government, he said.
But later in the day, Taliban fighters could be seen freely
roaming the streets. Mr. Mujahid later wrote on Twitter that Taliban fighters had entered the city to provide security.
Footage from Al Jazeera inside the presidential palace late Sunday showed Taliban leaders with long beards and turbans seated around a wood table in the palace, as militants with guns slung across their bodies stood behind them. Some lounged on gilded chairs in the ornate building where just hours before Mr. Ghani had presided over the Afghan government.
In messages apparently distributed to Kabul residents via the messaging group WhatsApp, the group proclaimed, “We are in charge of security for Kabul.” The messages listed telephone numbers in various neighborhoods where citizens should call if they saw problems.
“The Islamic Emirate assures you that no one should be in panic of feeling fear,” one message said. “Taliban is taking over the city without fighting and no one will be at risk.”
Meanwhile, Afghan leaders who have been the Taliban’s nemesis for the past two decades issued pleas for the group to refrain from retributory violence.
Former Afghan president Hamid Karzai appeared in a video posted online, surrounded by his three daughters as a helicopter whirred overhead.
“We are trying to solve the issue of Afghanistan with the Taliban leadership peacefully,” he said, according to The Associated Press.
Other figures closely associated with the Americanbacked government, including Gul Agha Sherzai, the former governor of Nangarhar province, recorded videos congratulating the Taliban on its victory.
One Afghan official, acting interior minister Abdul Satar Mirzakwal, said Sunday there had been “an agreement that there will be a transitional administration for orderly transfer of power.”
U.S. officials, focused on the evacuation, are not involved in the Afghan-to-Afghan talks.
Mere hours before, the Taliban had captured the city of Jalalabad, adding the eastern provincial capital to the ever-growing ranks of territory under its control. The fall came just hours after the Taliban seized Mazare Sharif — a northern city long seen as an anti-Taliban stronghold.
The Taliban’s capture of Jalalabad, close to Afghanistan’s border with Pakistan, came with minimal resistance after militants and local elders negotiated the fall of the city’s government. Leaders in Jalalabad were given safe passage from the city, according to Reuters.
Both Bagram and Sorobi districts in Kabul province also surrendered without shots being fired, according to an official, who added the militants had made “political deals” with local leaders.
Afghan forces on Sunday handed over Bagram air base — once the U.S. military’s most important airfield in the country — to the Taliban, a district chief told the AP. The air base holds a prison housing 5,000 inmates.