Taliban insurgents entered the Afghanistan capital Kabul on Sunday, an interior ministry official said, as the United States evacuated diplomats from its embassy by helicopter.
Ashraf Ghani fled the country, leaving the Taliban free to take over many parts of the capital and the presidential palace, symbolising their total military victory in just ten days.
President Ashraf Ghani fled Afghanistan on Sunday 15 August, effectively handing power to the Taliban who have reached the capital, Kabul, symbolising their total military victory in just ten days. The radical Islamist movement is poised to return to power 20 years after being ousted by a US-led coalition.
The announcement of President Ghani’s flight was first made on condition of anonymity by two Afghan officials to the Associated Press (AP) news agency, as well as by former Vice President Abdullah Abdullah in a video posted online. “The former president has left Afghanistan, leaving people in this situation. He will give an account before God and people will give their judgment,” Abdullah said.
Emboldened by the withdrawal of US troops, they now control all key cities and have closed in on the capital, Kabul.
Late on Saturday Taliban fighters took Mazar-i-Sharif, an anti-Taliban bastion that was the last major city in northern Afghanistan still under government control. On Sunday they seized Jalalabad to the east of Kabul.
Other major cities under Taliban control include Kandahar and Herat.
