Taliban fighters entered Kabul and sought the unconditional surrender of the central government as Afghans and foreigners alike raced for the exit.
Their takeover of Afghanistan all but complete, Taliban militants began moving into the capital, Kabul, on Sunday and demanded the unconditional surrender of the Afghanistan government against a steady thrum of helicopters ferrying Americans and other foreigners attempting to escape the country to safety.
From early hours Sunday, thousands of panicked Afghans stormed cash machines, pushed streets into massive gridlock complete with fistfights, and hunkered down in their homes as offices, including government agencies, emptied and shops boarded up against looters. At night, the streets turned quiet.With 4,000 U.S. troops arriving in country or en route, the evacuation of the U.S. Embassy shifted into full gear. Helicopters airlifted American diplomats to the fortified airport to await departure.
Abdullah Abdullah, who headed the government delegation in talks with the Taliban that were taking place in Doha, Qatar, said in a videotaped message that Ghani had left Afghanistan. With astounding speed, the Taliban launched a relentless march across the country barely two weeks ago, capturing territory and then provincial capitals and finally major cities. Even as U.S. intelligence was forecasting it would take the Taliban a month or more to seize Kabul — and as President Biden and other U.S. officials insisted the fall of the capital was not inevitable — Taliban fighters had surrounded the city of 6 million by Sunday and were moving in by nightfall.
Despite the collapse of the Afghan government and with criticism mounting, the administration seemed steadfastly unwilling to reverse its decision to withdraw all American troops and has pointed fingers of blame at a lack of leadership in the badly demoralized Afghan government forces. Critics say the abrupt departure of U.S. and NATO troops emboldened the Taliban.
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