Aug. 15 (UPI) — Taliban militants have taken control of most Afghanistan, including reaching Kabul, as President Ashraf Ghani has left the country and the United States has authorized 5,000 troops to help evacuate U.S. personnel, including from its embassy in the capital.
The fighters entered Kabul, rather than remaining on the outskirts, because Afghan government security forces had abandoned their posts, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said in a statement obtained by CNN.
The Taliban originally said fighters had been ordered to remain on the edges of the capital with negotiations taking place to ensure a peaceful transition of power. “We assure the people in Afghanistan — there will be no revenge on anyone,” a Taliban spokesman told the BBC.
Ghani, a former economist who has served as Afghanistan’s president since 2014, departed from the nation, Abdullah Abdullah, the Afghan chairman of the High Council for National Reconciliation, said in a video statement. He used to be an American citizen but he gave up his passport to run for the Afghan presidency in 2009.
A witness told CNN that Kabul airport was in a chaotic situation, as most foreigners attempted to leave the country.
“There are big crowds trying to get in and at one stage shooting erupted,” the witness said.
“There was also a warning of a ground attack and we were in a bunker for the past hour but now it is all clear. It’s all foreigners here. One young European woman was freaking out.”
Staff from the U.S. Kabul embassy are being evacuated, with people seen boarding military planes at the airport.
The process will take 72 hours, two sources familiar with the situation told CNN on Sunday. A small number of core personnel, including the top U.S. diplomat will remain at the Kabul airport.
Earlier Sunday, militants took without a fight control of Jalalabad, a key eastern city, which means roads are secured the roads connecting the country with Pakistan.
The Taliban regained Bagram airfield and prison, which is about 25 miles north of the city center.
The complex, which was once the largest U.S. military facility in Afghanistan, was evacuated by the U.S. military on July 2
On Saturday, President Joe Biden announced an additional direct deployment of 1,000 troops to Afghanistan for a total of 5,000 “to make sure we can have an orderly and safe drawdown of U.S. personnel and other allied personnel and an orderly and safe evacuation of Afghans who helped our troops during our mission and those at special risk from the Taliban advance.”
About 1,000 are already on the ground in country, according to a defense official. A 1,000-troop battalion from the 82nd Airborne Division were redirected to Kabul, instead of being on standby in Kuwait.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Sunday he was surprised the Taliban advanced “more quickly than we anticipated,” but defended the U.S. troops’ withdrawal. On Feb. 29, 2020, the U.S. and the Taliban signed a peace agreement that include the withdrawal of all regular American and NATO troops from Afghanistan,
The Trump administration agreed to reduce its forces from 13,000 to 8,600 by July 2020 with a full withdrawal by May 2021 and Biden extended it to Sept. 11, the anniversary of the 9/11 attack. On July 8, Biden said it would be complete by Aug. 31.
“The idea that the status quo could have been maintained by keeping our forces there is simply wrong,” Blinken told CNN’s Jake Tapper.
“We haven’t asked the Taliban for anything. We’ve told the Taliban that if they interfere with our personnel, with our operations as we’re proceeding with this drawdown, there will be a swift and decisive response.”
Other nations evacuating their embassy buildings included Canada, Sweden, Germany
Russia says it will not be closing its embassy, because of security assurances by the Taliban. But Russia is planning to convene an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council to discuss the situation in Afghanistan.
The Taliban were ousted nearly 20 years ago by a U.S.-led military coalition.
People in Kabul have no need to worry and their properties and lives are safe, Taliban spokesman Suhail Shaheen told the BBC.
“We are the servants of the people and of this country,” he said.
The Taliban want Afghans to help with the post-conflict reconstruction, Shaheen said