Received

Taliban fighters have entered Kabul and sought the unconditional surrender of the central government as Afghans and foreigners try to flee, signalling the end of a 20-year Western experiment aimed at remaking Afghanistan.

The beleaguered Afghan government, meanwhile, hoped for an interim administration, but increasingly had few cards to play.

Civilians fearing the Taliban could reimpose the kind of brutal rule that all but eliminated women's rights rushed to leave the country, lining up at cash machines to withdraw their life savings on Sunday.

There were unconfirmed reports that President Ashraf Ghani had also left the country and gone to Tajikistan.

Helicopters buzzed overhead to evacuate personnel from the US Embassy, while smoke rose near the compound as staff destroyed important documents. Several other Western missions also prepared to pull their people out.

In a stunning rout, the Taliban seized nearly all of Afghanistan in just over a week, despite the billions of dollars spent by the US and Nato over nearly two decades to build up Afghan security forces.

Just days earlier, an American military assessment estimated it would be a month before the capital would come under insurgent pressure.

Instead, the Taliban swiftly defeated, co-opted or sent Afghan security forces fleeing from wide swaths of the country, even though they had some air support from the US military.

On Sunday, the insurgents entered the outskirts of Kabul but apparently remained outside of the city centre. Sporadic gunfire echoed at times though the streets were largely quiet.

Taliban spokesman Suhail Shaheen told Qatar's Al-Jazeera English satellite news channel that the insurgents are "awaiting a peaceful transfer of Kabul city". He declined to offer specifics on any possible negotiations between his forces and the government.

But when pressed on what kind of agreement the Taliban wanted, Shaheen acknowledged that they were seeking an unconditional surrender by the central government.

Taliban negotiators headed to the presidential palace on Sunday to discuss the transfer, said an Afghan official who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.

The negotiators on the government side included former president Hamid Karzai and Abdullah Abdullah, the head of the Afghan National Reconciliation Council, an official said.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss details of the closed-doors negotiations, described them as "tense". Karzai himself appeared in a video posted online, his three young daughters around him, saying he remained in Kabul.

"We are trying to solve the issue of Afghanistan with the Taliban leadership peacefully," he said, while the roar of a passing helicopter could be heard overhead.

Abdullah has been a vocal critic of President Ghani, who long refused giving up power to get a deal with the Taliban.

Warlords he negotiated with just days earlier have surrendered to the Taliban or fled, leaving him without a military option. Negotiations in Doha, Qatar, the site of a Taliban office, have failed to stop the insurgents' advance.

Still, acting Defence Minister Bismillah Khan sought to reassure the public that Kabul would remain "secure". The insurgents also tried to calm residents of the capital, insisting their fighters would not enter people's homes or interfere with businesses. They also said they would offer an "amnesty" to those who worked with the Afghan government or foreign forces.

"No one's life, property and dignity will be harmed and the lives of the citizens of Kabul will not be at risk," the insurgents said in a statement.

But there have been reports of revenge killings and other brutal tactics in areas of the country the Taliban have seized in recent days.

And on Sunday, panic set in as many rushed to leave the country through the Kabul airport, the last route out of the country as the Taliban now hold every border crossing.

Rapid shuttle flights of helicopters near the US Embassy began on Sunday, a few hours after the militants seized the nearby city of Jalalabad - which had been the last major city besides the capital not in Taliban hands.

Military helicopters shuttled between the embassy compound and the airport, where a core presence will remain for as long as possible given security conditions.

Meanwhile, wisps of smoke could be seen near the embassy's roof as diplomats urgently destroyed sensitive documents, according to two American military officials who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Nato, meanwhile, said it was "helping to maintain operations at Kabul airport to keep Afghanistan connected with the world".

Low-cost carrier FlyDubai said it would temporarily suspend flights to Kabul. It turned around a flight to the capital on Sunday, as did Emirates.

Emirates said an "unforeseen temporary closure of the runway" stopped it from landing.

with Reuters

© RAW 2021

Taliban insurgents have entered Afghanistan's capital Kabul as the United States evacuated diplomats from its embassy by helicopter and a government minister said power would be handed over to an interim administration.

The developments capped a lightning advance by the Islamist militants who were ousted from Kabul 20 years ago by US-led forces after the September 11 attacks on the United States.

A senior Afghan interior ministry official told Reuters the Taliban were coming "from all sides" into the capital but gave no further details. There were no reports of fighting.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said in a statement that the group was in talks with the government for a peaceful surrender of Kabul.

"Taliban fighters are to be on standby on all entrances of Kabul until a peaceful and satisfactory transfer of power is agreed," the statement said.

Ali Ahmad Jalali, a US-based academic and former Afghan interior minister, is likely to be named head of an interim administration in Kabul, three diplomatic sources said as Taliban fighters gathered around the city.

No major Taliban movement into Kabul had been detected yet, a senior US official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The collapse of the Afghan government defence has stunned diplomats - just last week, a US intelligence estimate said Kabul could hold out for at least three months.

There was no immediate word on the situation from President Ashraf Ghani. A palace official said he was in emergency talks with US peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad and top officials from the NATO transatlantic alliance.

Power would be handed over to a transitional administration, the government's acting interior minister, Abdul Sattar Mirzakawal, said in a tweet on the Tolo news channel.

"There won't be an attack on the city, it is agreed that there will be a peaceful handover," he said without elaborating.

The head of the Taliban's political bureau, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, is heading to Kabul from Doha, a Taliban source in the Qatari capital said.

A tweet from the Afghan presidential palace account said firing had been heard at a number of points around Kabul but that security forces, in coordination with international partners, had control of the city.

Many of Kabul's streets were choked by cars and people either trying to rush home or reach the airport, residents said.

Afghans have fled the provinces to enter Kabul in recent days, fearing a return to hardline Islamist rule.

Early on Sunday, refugees from Taliban-controlled provinces were seen unloading belongings from taxis and families stood outside embassy gates, while the city's downtown was packed with people stocking up on supplies.

US officials said diplomats were being ferried by helicopters to the airport from its embassy in the fortified Wazir Akbar Khan district. More American troops were being sent to help in the evacuations after the Taliban's surge brought the Islamist group to Kabul in a matter of days.

Earlier on Sunday, the insurgents captured the eastern city of Jalalabad without a fight, giving them control of one of the main highways into landlocked Afghanistan. They also took over the nearby Torkham border post with Pakistan, leaving Kabul airport the only way out of Afghanistan still in government hands.

A video clip distributed by the Taliban showed people cheering and shouting "Allahu Akbar" - God is greatest - as a convoy of pickup trucks entered Jalalabad with fighters brandishing machine guns and the white Taliban flag.

US President Joe Biden on Saturday authorised the deployment of 5000 US troops to help evacuate citizens and ensure an "orderly and safe" drawdown of military personnel.

The Taliban said its rapid gains showed it was popularly accepted by the Afghan people and reassured both Afghans and foreigners that they would be safe.

Biden said his administration had told Taliban officials in talks in Qatar that any action that put US personnel at risk "will be met with a swift and strong US military response".

He has faced rising domestic criticism as the Taliban have taken city-after-city far more quickly than predicted. The president has stuck to a plan, initiated by his Republican predecessor, Donald Trump, to end the US military mission in Afghanistan by August 31.

Biden said it is up to the Afghan military to hold its own territory.

"An endless American presence in the middle of another country's civil conflict was not acceptable to me," Biden said on Saturday.

© RAW 2021

Taliban fighters have entered the outskirts of the Afghan capital Kabul while panicked workers fled government offices and helicopters have landed at the US Embassy as the militants' further tightened their grip on the country.

Three Afghan officials told The Associated Press on Sunday that the Taliban were in the districts of Kalakan, Qarabagh and Paghman in the capital.

The militants later pledged not to take the capital of Kabul "by force" as sporadic gunfire could be heard in the capital.

"No one's life, property and dignity will be harmed and the lives of the citizens of Kabul will not be at risk," the Taliban said.

In a nationwide offensive that has taken just over a week, the Taliban has defeated, co-opted or sent Afghan security forces fleeing from wide swaths of the country, even with some air support by the US military.

Rapid shuttle flights of Boeing CH-47 Chinook helicopters near the embassy began a few hours later after the militants seized the nearby city of Jalalabad. Diplomatic armoured SUVs could be seen leaving the area around the post.

The US State Department did not immediately respond to questions about the movements. However, wisps of smoke could be seen near the embassy's roof as diplomats urgently destroyed sensitive documents, according to two American military officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to discuss the situation.

Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters, which typically carry armed troops, later landed near the embassy as well.

The Czech Republic also approved a plan to begin withdrawing their Afghan staff from their embassy after earlier taking their diplomats to Kabul International Airport.

President Ashraf Ghani, who spoke to the nation Saturday for the first time since the offensive began, appears increasingly isolated as well. Warlords he negotiated with just days earlier have surrendered to the Taliban or fled, leaving Ghani without a military option.

Ongoing negotiations in Qatar, the site of a Taliban office, also have failed to stop the insurgents' advance.

Thousands of civilians now live in parks and open spaces in Kabul itself, fearing the future. Some ATMs stopped distributing cash as hundreds gathered in front of private banks, trying to withdraw their life savings.

Gunfire erupted at several points, though the Afghan presidency sought to downplayed the shooting.

"The defence and security forces along with the international forces working for the security of Kabul city and the situation is under control," the presidency said amid the chaos.

© RAW 2021