Taliban Captures Kabul, Seizes Presidential Palace as Ghani Flees

One of the Taliban’s top officials has said the real test of governing is set to begin, after the group entered the Afghan capital, Kabul, and took control of the presidential palace.

According to Al Jazeera, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, who heads the Taliban’s political bureau, said in a brief video statement on Sunday that the test would begin with meeting the expectations of Afghans and resolving their problems.

Al Jazeera had obtained exclusive footage of Taliban leaders, surrounded by dozens of armed fighters, addressing the media from the country’s seat of power earlier on Sunday.

They entered the palace after President Ashraf Ghani fled the country amid the Taliban’s rapid advance, which saw the group capture 26 of Afghanistan’s 34 provincial capitals in less than two weeks.

Ghani later said in a statement posted on Facebook that he fled to prevent further bloodshed.

“The Taliban have won with the judgement of their swords and guns, and are now responsible for the honour, property and self-preservation of their countrymen,” he said.

The Pentagon and the US Department of State said they are taking steps to secure Kabul’s international airport to enable the safe departure of thousands of US and allied personnel from Afghanistan via civilian and military flights.
In a joint statement Sunday night, the agencies said the US security presence will have expanded to nearly 6,000 troops over the next two days, with a “mission focused solely on facilitating” the departures. They will also take over air traffic control.

“Tomorrow and over the coming days, we will be transferring out of the country thousands of American citizens who have been resident in Afghanistan, as well as locally employed staff of the US mission in Kabul and their families and other particularly vulnerable Afghan nationals,” the statement said.

“And we will accelerate the evacuation of thousands of Afghans eligible for US Special Immigrant Visas, nearly 2,000 of whom have already arrived in the United States over the past two weeks.”

‘It’s shameful,’ says ex-Ghani adviser of president’s departure

Shafiq Hamdam, a former adviser to Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, slammed Ghani’s decision to flee Afghanistan on Sunday amid the Taliban’s rapid advance on Kabul.

“It’s shameful. It’s embarrassing. People feel abandoned, people feel betrayed,” Hamdam told Al Jazeera from Washington, DC.

Ghani justified his departure in a statement on Facebook, saying it aimed to prevent further bloodshed. “The Taliban have won with the judgement of their swords and guns,” he wrote.

Former US President Donald Trump called for his successor Joe Biden to resign on Sunday over the swift takeover of Afghanistan by Taliban fighters, as US troops withdrew from the country after nearly 20 years on the ground.

“It is time for Joe Biden to resign in disgrace for what he has allowed to happen to Afghanistan,” Trump said in a statement.

The Taliban have reconquered Afghanistan in a lightning surge 20 years after they were toppled by the US invasion.
They entered Kabul on Sunday, more than two weeks before the August 31 deadline set by Biden to complete the withdrawal of American troops from the country.

It was under Trump that the US brokered a deal with the Taliban in Doha in 2020 that would have seen the US withdraw all its troops by May 2021, in exchange for various security guarantees from the group.

Iran has reduced its diplomatic presence in Afghanistan, the foreign ministry said Sunday, leaving a skeleton staff at the embassy in Kabul.

“There has been a reduction in staff at Iran’s embassy in Kabul,” foreign ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said in a statement, adding that some personnel remained to ensure the “embassy’s necessary activities” continue.