The Taliban have entered the Afghan capital, Kabul, from all sides, the Afghan Interior Ministry said today as US and European Union personnel sought safety.
Members of US teams are working from Kabul airport, according to a US official, while a NATO official said several EU staff members had moved to a safer area of the capital, which has not been disclosed.
Following the “blitzkrieg” strike in the capital, the rebel group ordered its fighters to refrain from violence and allow the safe passage of those who wanted to leave and asked the women to head to protected areas, according to a Taliban leader in Doha.
Chaos has prevailed in the Afghan capital since the morning and huge queues have formed outside banks as you can see in the video below:
#BREAKING Taliban capture Jalalabad: residents; Kabul only major Afghan city in govt control pic.twitter.com/MN2wmYr62M
— AFP News Agency (@AFP) August 15, 2021
Since yesterday, chaos has prevailed at Kabul airport, with thousands of citizens fleeing Afghanistan after the events of recent days. Huge queues of people looking for a safer place are crowded outside the capital’s only passport office, desperately trying to secure travel documents.
Others run frantically around the center of Kabul, a city of about 5 million people, for last-minute tasks before leaving their homes.
Fear and panic gripped Kabul as the Taliban stormed the capital after a devastating, months-long military offensive during which they occupied most of Afghanistan.
In less than ten days, the Taliban have taken control of most of Afghanistan and managed to reach Kabul, which is surrounded on all sides.
In fact, the United States has begun removing diplomats from its embassy in Kabul in images resembling the evacuation of Saigon, making Afghanistan the second defeat of the US after that in Vietnam. “We have a small group of people leaving now as we speak, most of the staff is ready to leave … the embassy is still open,” said one of the officials, speaking on condition of anonymity.
#BREAKING: #Taliban has captured prison of Mazar-i-Sharif. They freed all the inmates including hundreds of terrorists from #AlQaeda & #ISIL/#Daesh! Prisoners can be found all over city now. pic.twitter.com/Yr8yEHQzzC
— Babak Taghvaee – Μπάπακ Τακβαίε – بابک تقوایی (@BabakTaghvaee) August 14, 2021
August 15: Assumption of Virgin Mary & Greek customs (photos)
Earlier in the day, the Taliban captured the strategic city of Jalalabad in the eastern part of the country without a fight, now taking control of the road network connecting Afghanistan and Pakistan, officials and residents said.
Fall of #Jalalabad, the capital of Nangarhar province and the 6th largest city of Afghanistan, this morning.
Torkham border crossing point and International highway took over by the #Taliban. pic.twitter.com/gMfdrEG9c3
— Atiq Ur Rehman Sial (@AtiqSial) August 15, 2021
“There is no fighting in Jalalabad at the moment because the governor has surrendered to the Taliban”, an Afghan official in the city, the capital of Nangarhar province, told Reuters. Surrender was “the only way to save the lives of civilians”, he added.
Taliban inside Jalalabad. Reports are that gov’t officials in many of these capitals struck deals with the Taliban weeks ago, which is why many are falling without resistance.
— Election Wizard (@ElectionWiz) August 15, 2021
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